Over 64 Dead, Including Children, in Russian Mall Blaze
Deadly
Witnesses say building’s fire alarms never went off.
The death toll in a fire that ripped through a shopping mall in Russia on Sunday has increased to 64, with 10 still missing, and many children believed to be among the victims. The blaze at the Winter Cherry mall in Kemerovo—almost 2,000 miles east of Moscow—roared through the night but was extinguished Monday morning local time. Officials updated the death toll to 64 after discovering more bodies overnight and said that number is expected to rise with 10 more people unaccounted for. With questions being asked about how the tragedy could have happened, witnesses told the Ekho Mosvky radio station the mall’s fire alarm didn’t go off and that staff did not organize an evacuation. Russia’s Investigative Committee is yet to reveal the cause of the fire.
