Tragedy as dozens of children among dead in shopping mall inferno in black day for Siberia

Dozens of children were missing feared dead today in the appalling shopping mall fire in Siberia’s Kemerovo region.

The latest official death toll was 64 with 38 injured - and many still unaccounted for. 

Sources in the emergency services indicate that 96 bodies have been found - many of them children - although the number was not officially confirmed. 

They also made clear 30 bodies were found in one cinema, and 37 in another. 

Two of three cinemas “collapsed” from the fourth to the third floors in the fire.

The mall - a converted Soviet-era confectionary factory - was described as a “labyrinth” with few windows, one main staircase, one lift shaft and one escalator.

Pictures emerged of the missing children with little hope that any will be found alive in the carnage of the shopping centre as firefighters struggled to reach the worst-hit areas. 

A video showed the panic at the start of the tragedy with parents screaming for their children and others shouting ‘fire, fire’. 

Another highlighted fire doors locked and people unable to escape. 

An 11 year old boy Sergei Moskalenko is in a coma after jumping from a blazing window - a fall seen on video as he hit an awning - and it was confirmed this morning that his parents died in the fire. 

The fire was still burning this morning - and the structure in danger of collapse - preventing rescuers and firefighters reaching aa badly hit cinema where many children had been watching a film.  

One girl, Maria Moroz, 13, messaged from the cinema: “We are on fire".

A relative replied then she said:  “Looks like this is farewell from me.”

She is feared dead. 

Early Monday morning drone video of the shopping mall

Among the missing are eight girls from one class in Treschevsky village - all 11 or 12 years old - named as: Viktoria Pochankina, Veronika Ponushkova, Elena Chernikova, Tatiana Kurchevskaya, Sergey Maneshkin, Viktoria Zipunova, Anastasia Smirnova, Diana Nizovskaya.

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 breath.’

Her aunt Evgenia said: “I told her: 'Vika, take off your clothes, cover your nose’. 

She told me: 'Auntie, tell all my family I love them. Tell mum that I loved her…'

The call ended. 

Evgenia added: “The school vacations have just begun and almost all their class was there - about 10 people. Two or three parents and a teacher. 

“The teacher left the kids in the cinema and went with parents in  the shopping mall. So all the adults survived.”

People filmed trying to break out of the shopping mall as fire gets close 

A Kemerovo high school teacher Tatiana Darsalia's body was the first to be identified. 

She had brought her class to the shopping mall.

Owner of the shopping mall Nadezhda Suddenok was detained for questioning.

The official in charge of fire safety and a senior manager were also held. 

Local governor Aman Tuleev  said he had lost an 11 year old relative in the fire. 

“I feel it very close, because my very close relative died there, a girl,” he said. 

A mother Yulia was in the play area of the Winter Cherry mall with her three children and her own mother.

She said: “The fire began on the 4th level, bouncy castles caught fire. 

“It all was happening right in front of my eyes, I was sitting at the sofa opposite the play zone. 

“The fire was grew within seconds, smoke covered all around. 

“It was a miracle that we survived. 

“I ran to look for my children, when I gathered all of them, everything was in smoke. 

“I lost a sight of my mother… Luckily, I met her downstairs”. 

Igor, a boy, said: “I was watching a movie with my seven year old sister. Suddenly the door opened and a woman shouted – fire! 

“Clouds of smoke appeared in a second, I grabbed my sister and we ran downstairs. 

“The crowd was terrible there, I could see nothing.

“It took us five minutes to run out. My hands are still trembling, what if that woman did not come in and shout…?”

One woman, Ekaterina said: “I was with my husband on the third floor in a furniture shop. 

“Suddenly the ceiling began to crack, first in one place, then everywhere.

“We thought it would collapse on our heads in some seconds. Everyone rushed out including shop assistants, up to 50 people got in one lift. 

“People were jumping on each other on the escalator. 

“Men were running ahead of women… and on the ground floor all were just standing and watching our rush, nobody was in a hurry. 

“Many people got outside without coats, many were from fitness centre and spa, in flip flops and covered in towels… 

“Some people looted TV sets.”

One secunity guard said lighted candles were on a table in the play area for a celebration moments before the fire started. 

Another said: “People were panicking. The elevators were working. 

“Fire alarm did not work at all. There was no water, no fire alarm. 

“They came to test it not long ago, I remember. And I know that lifts should have been blocked, but they were working, so it was a total failure. 

“All were shouting and running. I went to rescue the children. I was just grabbing them and taking out. I don’t know how many, 10, 15, I was just running here and there while it was possible to breath.”

Russian emergencies minister Vladimir Puchkov said:

"Firefighters and rescuers are risking their lives and health working inside the facility due to its unstable structure and heavy smoke contamination.

"There is no access to a number of areas due to extremely high temperatures.”

His deputy Vladlen Aksyonov said: “The floor decks are giving in and there is a threat of them collapsing.”