53 Killed As Fire Gut Russia’s Siberia Shopping Mall – Report

Russian Emergency Situations Ministry photo on Sunday, smoke rises above a multi-story shopping centre in the Siberian city of Kemerovo, about 3,600 kilometres east of Moscow. (Russian Ministry for Emergency Situations photo via AP)

At least 53 people are dead and dozens injured after a fire at a shopping center in the Siberian city of Kemerovo on Sunday, a spokesman for the firefighting agency told Russian state media.

State news agency Tass reported a fire at the Zimnyaya Vishnya - also known as Winter Cherry - shopping mall in central Kemerovo broke out on the top floor of a four-story building, in the center's cinema hall.

According to first deputy governor of the Kemerovo region Vladimir Chernov, thirteen more bodies were found in one of the movie halls.

Earlier reports put the number of the fire victims at 37. Forty-three were injured.

Twenty people were saved from the burning building, and some 100 others were evacuated. By now, the fire has been localized. A criminal case was opened.

The shopping mall with an overall area of 23,000 square meters was opened in 2013. It has a parking lot for 250 cars, shops, a bowling, a children’s center, a cinema, and a petting zoo.





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