Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday said "criminal negligence" was to blame for a mall fire in Siberia’s Kemerovo city that killed at least 64 people, including 41 children, after they found themselves trapped in the inferno at a busy shopping center because of locked doors.
A criminal probe has been opened and five people have been arrested over Sunday's blaze at the Winter Cherry mall.
Two days after the tragedy, Putin visited a makeshift memorial of stuffed toys and flowers in Kemerovo, saying he felt "like wailing" over the number of victims.
Investigators said the victims and dozens of animals were burned alive or suffocated because emergency exits were locked, notably at a multiplex cinema where children were watching cartoons.
Eyewitnesses also reported that fire alarms were silent.
Forty-one children were among the dead, Russian state news agency RIA Novosti reported Tuesday citing a source in the regional emergencies services.
"What is happening here? These are not armed hostilities. This is not an unexpected release of methane. People, children came to relax," Putin told officials after laying flowers at a makeshift memorial of flowers, stuffed children's toys and balloons near the gutted mall's facade.
"We are talking about demographics but are losing so many people. Because of what? Because of some criminal negligence, slovenliness," Putin said in comments released by the Kremlin.
"The first feelings when they speak about the number of victims and the number of dead children... one feels like wailing -- not crying," he said.
The Russian leader also visited victims at a local hospital including Ivan Zavarzin, 18, who jumped from the fourth floor during the blaze.
Putin also met three men who helped evacuate people.
The Kemerovo region declared three days of mourning beginning Tuesday.
Russia also declared a day of national mourning after thousands of angry and distraught Russians rallied in the city to demand a full probe into the fire.
