It took Russian firefighters more than 19 hours to extinguish the fire that broke out at Winter Cherry on Sunday afternoon. The blaze began on the fourth floor of the building that, housing a cafe, play area and three cinema halls, is a favourite haunt of local children. Eyewitnesses elsewhere in the building told Russian media that fire alarms had failed to sound and they were only alerted to the emergency after screams were heard from above. He rushed to the fourth floor, but collapsed in the suffocating smoke before he could reach the cinema. In Kemerovo, hundreds of mourners came to visit a makeshift memorial outside the Winter Cherry mall on Monday, bringing flowers, candles and soft toys to honour the dead.

Source: The Irish Times March 26, 2018 17:37 UTC