Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption Firefighters tackle fatal shopping centre blaze

Russian investigators and witnesses say there was no alarm and exits were blocked when a fire engulfed a shopping and entertainment mall in Siberia, killing at least 64 people. The fire at the Winter Cherry mall in Kemerovo, a city about 1,900 miles east of Moscow, was extinguished by Monday morning after burning through the night. Firefighters said the building was still smouldering a day later, with smoke billowing out and the remaining structures at risk of collapse. Some of the dead were found inside a cinema, which one witness said had been locked shut. Moscow: Investigators looking into a fire that killed at least 64 people at a busy shopping centre in the Siberian city of Kemerovo say that a security guard had turned off the fire alarm system and that exits had been illegally blocked. On Monday morning, Kemerovo residents were bringing flowers, candles and stuffed animals to a plaza outside the mall, and local hospitals reported an influx of people wanting to donate blood for the victims. Sixty-four deaths were confirmed after the firefighters finished combing through the four floors of the mall, Emergency Situations Minister Vladimir Puchkov told a televised briefing. Russia's emergencies ministry says 58 bodies have been recovered, and so far just 17 have been identified. Puchkov would not immediately say how many of the victims were children as only 17 people have been identified. Thirteen people have been hospitalized. Health Minister Veronika Skvortsova, who visited the Keremovo hospital where the victims were receiving treatment, said on Russian state television that the patient in the gravest condition is an 11-year-old boy who jumped out of a window from the fourth floor. The most serious case is an 11-year-old boy whose parents and siblings died in the fire, Health Minister Veronika Skvortsova said. Some 200 animals are also believed to have died in the mall’s petting zoo. The zoo’s manager told the Tass news agency that the animals included rabbits, turtles, pigs, goats and rodents. Russia's Investigative Committee, which handles major crimes, said it was trying to bring in the mall's owner for questioning and wanted to detain a security guard who had turned off the fire alarm system after learning of the blaze. Four people have been detained in connection with the deadly, fire including one of the mall’s tenants. The investigators did not give the cause of the fire but said they have obtained evidence proving “flagrant violations” that could have contributed to the heavy loss of life, including the fact that the fire escapes were blocked. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Monday it was too early to draw conclusions about whether local officials failed in Kemerovo. Witness testimony indicated that the fire alarm did not go off and that staff did not arrange for the evacuation at the shopping mall, which was converted from a former confectionery factory in 2013. Winter Cherry was one of Kemerovo’s most popular entertainment centers for children, with its own indoor skating rink, petting zoo and trampolines. Kemerovo residents said the mall was packed with children and their parents. The Ekho Mosvky radio station on Monday quoted witnesses who said the fire alarm did not go off and that the mall’s staff did not organize the evacuation. The daughter of a shop assistant who was working on the second floor said "the alarm didn't go off... she learnt about the fire from a man who ran past her - there was no help from any staff". “We didn’t hear the fire alarm, they even didn’t turn on the light during the show,” she said. “That movie could have been the last for us, I’ve only just realized that.”

Alexander Lillevyali lost three daughters, 11-year-old twins and a 5-year-old, who were in a cinema hall on the top floor watching a cartoon. Lillevyali told the Meduza news website that one of his daughters called him, saying that they could smell the smoke but could not get out because the door was locked. "I was shouting into the phone, telling her to get out but there was nothing I could do -- the fire was in front of me," he said. The Prosecutor General’s Office on Monday ordered all shopping malls in Russia to be checked for fire safety features. Russian companies routinely complain about excessive checks from various government agencies, which often abuse elaborate rules and regulations to pressure businesses. As a result, many companies prefer to pay bribes instead of complying with outdated and excessive regulations, including fire safety rules.
Witnesses and Russia's Investigative Committee say the Winter Cherry complex's exits were blocked and there were no alarms during the disaster.