Kemerovo fire video: Shocking footage from Russia shopping mall inferno shows children fleeing as investigators say fire exits 'were blocked'

Eleanor Rose26 March 2018

Shocking footage has emerged of desperate shoppers fleeing the Kemerovo mall fire as it ripped through the building, killing at least 64 people.

The CCTV video shows children playing innocently by brightly-lit games machines at the Winter Cherry shopping centre in Kemerovo, a coal-mining town in central Russia.

Then it shows panicked shoppers running for their lives as a thick cloud of grey smoke rapidly fills the room.

The footage comes as local and state-level officials aired concerns about fire safety at the shopping centre.

Kemerovo mall fire

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Local politician Anton Gorelkin wrote on Facebook that "fire exits were shut, turning the complex into a trap" and "there was no organised evacuation".

Kemerovo's deputy governor, Vladimir Chernov, meanwhile said "this is the question: why were the doors shut?"

Russia's Investigative Committee meanwhile warned of "serious violations" including an allegation that fire engineers "switched off the alarm system" after being told about the fire.

The shocking allegations come early in the investigation, which began on Sunday evening after the fire at about 5pm.

Kemerovo high school teacher Tatiana Darsalia was confirmed dead in the fire

The shopping centre, which houses a cinema, petting zoo and soft play centre, has been gutted by the 700C inferno that began on the fourth floor before tearing through the complex.

One group of frantic customers were filmed trying to batter their way of out a staircase through a jammed emergency exit.

One girl, Maria Moroz, 13, messaged from the cinema: “We are on fire ... Looks like this is farewell from me.”

Fire broke out in a play area on the fourth floor. Veronika Trusova is among the missing children

In a heartrending final phone call Viktoria ‘Vika’ Pochankina told her aunt: “Everything is burning. The doors are blocked. I can’t go out, I can’t breathe.”

It has been claimed that staff routinely locked fire doors to prevent gatecrashers from entering without paying.

Viktoria Arkhipenko is also among those missing

So far, 17 of the 58 bodies recovered from the site have been identified, of which at least nine are children.

Fire safety infringements have been blamed for high casualties in previous catastrophic fires on Russian soil.

On December 5, 2009, 156 people died when flames ripped through the Lame Horse nightclub in Perm with witnesses saying not all fire exits were open or visible.

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