On 25 March 2018 at 16:00 local time (9:00 UTC), a fire at the Winter Cherry complex mall in Kemerovo, Russia, killed at least 60 people according to official statements. The blaze started somewhere on the top floor of the four-story complex, and people were seen jumping from windows to escape it. 100 people were evacuated, and another 20 were rescued. Others claim the number of people killed in fire is being covered up, and that the real figure runs into the hundreds. According to the Russian authorities the source of these rumors was a Ukrainian prankster who called the morgue posing as an emergency services officer.
Video 2018 Kemerovo fire
Events
Four people have been detained in relation to the fire, including the head of the shopping complex's managing company. Many of the victims were in the mall's three cinemas, where two roofs collapsed. Several of the victims in the cinemas were children watching Sherlock Gnomes to start off the first day of a week-long school break. The fire alarm system at Kemerovo shopping mall was switched off by a security guard. A spokesperson for the Investigative Committee of Russia also stated that the fire exits in the building were blocked during the fire. Tajik shopkeepers saved around 50 people through an alternate exit.
Kemerovo Oblast deputy governor Vladimir Chernov said that the preliminary suspicion is that a child had a cigarette lighter which ignited foam rubber in a children's trampoline room and erupted in the fashion of gunpowder. There is also speculation that the contracted builders and owners of the mall cut safety corners in the electrical wiring. Several arrests of these people have already been made.
At least 60 people were killed in the fire, 41 of them children.
Maps 2018 Kemerovo fire
The Winter Cherry complex
The Winter Cherry shopping and entertainment complex (Russian: ?????? ?????, ???????-??????????????? ???????? Zimnyaya vishnya, torgovo-razvlekatel'nyy kompleks) is a mall in Kemerovo, Russia.
The mall, which was converted from a former communist-era confectionery factory, opened in 2013 and also included a petting zoo, children's center and bowling alley.
Aftermath
Politicians across the globe sent their condolences. 28 March 2018 was declared the national day of mourning in Russia.
A rally was held in Kemerovo demanding the resignation of Kemerovo Mayor Ilya Seredyuk and the longtime regional governor, Aman Tuleyev. On April 1, 2018, Aman Tuleyev resigned as the governor of Kemerovo Oblast, citing "a heavy burden" of the Kemerovo fire, and President Putin accepted Tuleyev's resignation.
See also
- 2015 Kazan Shopping Center fire
- Lame Horse fire
References
- Media related to 2018 Kemerovo fire at Wikimedia Commons
External links
- ??? "?????? ?????" / Winter Cherry Complex fire memorial website
Source of article : Wikipedia
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