Iran Sympathizes with Russia over Deadly Blaze in Shopping Mall
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Bahram Qassemi expressed deep sorrow over a massive fire at a shopping center in Russia’s Siberian city of Kemerovo, which has killed at least 53 people and injured many others.
In a statement released on Monday, Qassemi offered condolences to the Russian people and government as well as the bereaved families of victims of the tragic incident.
The fire at Kemerovo’s Winter Cherry shopping center on Sunday left at least 53 people dead, many of them children, according to media reports.
Russian emergency workers were still recovering bodies from the shopping center a day after the fire and desperately searching for more than a dozen people still reported missing.
The fire broke out on a busy Sunday afternoon and quickly engulfed the top floor of the building, spreading through a children’s ice-skating rink, play center and a two-screen cinema.
Images from the scene showed thick black smoke pouring from the white-and-yellow tile shopping center, as firefighters continued to battle the flames after nightfall from four stories up.
It is still unclear what sparked the fire, which was put out on Sunday evening.
