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Inside the Mall fire
04 Apr 2018

Inside the Inferno: New videos reveal the rapid fire spread in Kemerovo mall

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New video footage from the surveillance camera inside Kemerovo mall reveals how incredibly fast the fire development occurred. In these haunting videos, you can clearly see a normal mall hallway become smoke filled and uninhabitable in a matter of seconds.

The above video is from the shopping center´s own internal camera system. The below video is shot by a private person with a phone inside the mall during the initial moments of the fire. The images shows desperate people trying to pry doors open to get out and escape the fire.

Russian investigators and witnesses say there was no alarm and exits were blocked when the fire engulfed a shopping and entertainment mall in Siberia, killing at least 64 people last Sunday. Many of the victims in the coal-mining city of Kemerovo were children, reports News 24.

Russia's Investigative Committee spoke of blocked exits and "serious violations" at the Winter Cherry mall. Sunday's blaze started on an upper floor.

The mall's shops, cinema and bowling alley were packed at the time. Video on social media showed people jumping from windows to escape. The Investigative Committee says a fire safety technician at the complex "switched off the alarm system" after being alerted about the fire.

The committee says two other fire safety officials have been detained for questioning, along with the Winter Cherry complex's technical director and the manager of a business located where the fire started.

Vladimir Putin has blamed criminal negligence for Russia’s deadliest fire in nearly a decade, as he sought to manage his first crisis since he was re-elected by a landslide earlier this month, reports The Guardian.

At least 64 people died in the fire that engulfed the top floor of the Winter Cherry shopping centre in the Siberian city of Kemerovo on Sunday. Some victims jumped from windows to escape the flames and smoke.

Official lists of the dead released by Kemerovo authorities showed that at least 40 of the 64 were children – the fire had swept through a children’s play area and two cinemas.

The Russian president arrived on Tuesday to find anger at officials’ handling of the tragedy. Tempers flared over reports that fire alarms at the shopping centre did not work and that emergency exit doors had been locked. A member of Russia’s parliament suggested corruption was to blame. Under public pressure, Putin declared Wednesday a day of national mourning.

 

Kemerovo Protest Rally. Photo: TASS - Barcroft

People rally in central Kemerovo in the aftermath of the fire Photograph: TASS / Barcroft Images

Thousands of residents congregated in a central square in Kemerovo on Tuesday in a rare public demonstration in the capital of a coal-mining region in western Siberia. Some called for Putin to come to the square, or for the resignation of the local government. Riot police were deployed around the local administration building.