Russia Shopping Mall Fire: At least 64 killed in blaze in Siberian town of Kemerovo

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There is grief and outrage across Russia today, after a deadly fire at a shopping mall. At least 64 people - many of them children - died in the fire in the Siberian town of Kemerovo. Witnesses say exit doors were blocked and there was no fire alarm. As Lucy Taylor reports, officials say it's a tragedy that could have been prevented.

A week-long school holiday had just begun, when this mall is typically packed with children in the restaurants, play rooms and cinemas, which became the center of an inferno.

"We had decided to go play on the fourth floor, as usual, at the arcade machines. They went in and started to go up and they were met with such a blaze, fire, smoke. Everyone started to run away."

People filmed themselves trying to get out. But as the flames took hold, many others weren't able to escape. And as emergency teams tried to put out the fire, rescuers struggled to get to victims.

VLADIMIR PUCHKOV RUSSIAN EMERGENCIES MINISTER "The most difficult areas for us are the two collapsed cinemas because they have almost entirely fallen through to the third floor."

As the news spread, lines formed outside a blood donation bank. And thoughts turned to supporting the families of the victims.

"This is terrible, some kind of a nightmare. I slept so badly today, it is unfortunate that today, on a Monday, we start with such an occurrence. But, we hope and we pray for everybody."

Investigators have opened a criminal investigation. There were reports of safety violations - emergency exits blocked, fire alarms that didn't go off or couldn't be heard. Russia's children's rights commissioner called for entertainment complexes around the country to be inspected.

LUCY TAYLOR MOSCOW "This is the worst fire Russia has seen in nearly a decade. The death toll and the fact that so many victims were children will re-open old questions about fire safety and about what more can be done to protect families in the places they should feel most secure. Lucy Taylor, CGTN in Moscow."