‘Flagrant violations’ of safety norms cited in Siberia inferno

MOSCOW: Russian authorities on Monday (Tuesday in Manila) denounced what they called “flagrant violations” of safety norms that led to the deaths of 64 people, many of them children, in a fire at a busy shopping mall in an industrial city in Siberia.Investigators and witnesses said emergency exits were locked shut—notably at a multiplex cinema where children were watching cartoons—and alarm systems were not working at the Winter Cherry shopping center in the Siberian city of Kemerovo.

“Investigators have already obtained proof of the flagrant violations that led to such serious consequences,” Russia’s Investigative Committee said in a statement.