You're reading: RFE/RL: Putin travels to Kemerovo, blames ‘criminal negligence’ for deadly fire

RFE/RL: Putin travels to Kemerovo, blames ‘criminal negligence’ for deadly fire

Published March 27, 2018 at 10:17 am

Russian President Vladimir Putin lays flowers in tribute to the victims of a fire at a shopping centre in Kemerovo on March 27, 2018.At least 53 bodies have been recovered from a fire that swept through a busy shopping centre in an industrial city in Siberia, Russian news agencies said. Many people are also still missing from the blaze that broke out on March 25, in the city of Kemerovo, the agencies quoted emergency services as saying. A previous toll put the number of dead at 37 with nearly 70 missing, including 40 children.

Photo by AFP

Russian President Vladimir Putin traveled to the Siberian city of Kemerovo overnight and early on March 27 blamed “criminal negligence and carelessness” for the deadly fire that killed more than 60 people at a shopping mall over the weekend.

As he laid a bouquet of roses on a spontaneous memorial set up by grieving relatives and friends of the victims, Putin said their loss was not comparable to those who have lost loved ones in a war or mining disaster.