Russia holds a nation-wide day of mourning after a deadly fire in a shopping mall in the Siberian city of Kemerovo. All of the country's cultural institutions and television and radio broadcasting companies are advised to cancel entertainment programs. Russian state flags were flown at half-mast to mourn the victims.
The mourning day was declared in a decree signed by Russian President Vladimir Putin on March 28.
The Kemerovo region has observed three days of mourning starting March 27 for the victims of a shopping mall fire. Funerals for the victims have begun in Kemerovo today. Funeral services for 15 victims will be held today.
The events dedicated to the memory about the fire victims have started yesterday in a number of the Russian regions, including Simferopol, Sochi, Rostov-on-Don, Kabardino-Balkaria, the Urals Federal District, Chelyabinsk, Omsk, Orenburg, Tambov, most regions of the central and north-western Russia, St. Petersburg.
The fire started on the top floor of the four-storey Zimnyaya Vishnya shopping mall on March 25,. According to the most recent data, a total of 64 people were killed in the fire, 12 injured were hospitalized and 55 received outpatient care. The bodies of 27 victims have already been identified.
The last time a nation-wide day of mourning was announced in the country on December 26, 2016 in connection with the crash of the Tu-154 plane of the Russian Defense Ministry near Sochi, which killed 92 people.
