Georgia Saddened by Kemerovo Shopping Mall Fire

Georgian leaders offered their condolences to the Russian people over the deadly fire at the Siberian Kemerovo Shopping Mall, which left at least 64 people dead, including 41 children, on March 25.

Prime Minister Giorgi Kvirikashvili offered his sympathy to the families of the deceased.

 "I would like to express my sorrow at the death of dozens of people, unfortunately including children, at a shopping mall fire in #Kemerovo, Russia. I offer my sincere condolences and sympathies to the families and loved ones of the victims, and the Russian people," the PM's tweet reads.

Georgian President, Giorgi Margvelashvili also released a statement on Twitter, saying he is shocked by the tragedy.

Shocked with awful #Kemerovo tragedy where people, many of them children, horribly died. My sincere condolences to the families of the victims.

— President Of Georgia (@MargvelashviliG) March 27, 2018

Russian news agency, Tass, reports that Muscovites, many with children, came to Moscow’s Pushkinskaya Square to remember those killed, where they stood in silence, some holding white balloons and posters reading "Moscow is Mourning." Many people brought flowers and laid them at the bottom of the Pushkin monument.

A remembrance rally was also held in Russia’s second largest city of St. Petersburg. More than a thousand of people gathered in the central Palace Square.

68 people survived the blaze on Sunday. 15 are in hospital.

Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a decree to declare March 28 a national day of mourning. Earlier, three days of mourning (March 27-29) was declared in Kemerovo.

The Russian Investigative Committee Head, Alexander Bastrykin, said that a security guard at the shopping center did not switch the warning system on after the start of the fire.

The spokesperson of the Investigative Committee Svetlana Petrenko said following the fire in Kemerovo, 59 bodies have been found and taken to hospital, 21 of them having been identified. She added that five people were being charged in connection with the deadly fire.

By Thea Morrison

Photo source: Tass