MOSCOW, March 27 (RAPSI) – Investigators have filed a motion to put defendants in the case over the blaze in the Zimnyaya Vishnya (Winter Cherry) shopping mall in Kemerovo in detention, the Investigative Committee reports through its Telegram channel on Tuesday.

The fire in the mall occurred on March 25. Investigators reported that 64 persons including children were killed in the accident. A criminal case has been launched over involuntary manslaughter, violation of fire safety regulations that left more than two persons dead and provisions of services that don’t meet safety requirements.

Five persons were arrested and questioned, including a formal head of the mall’s owner company, a renter of a place where the fire allegedly began, a head and an employee in an organization maintaining the fire alarm and a guard who allegedly turned off the emergency notification system when he received a fire signal.

Investigators note that 70 persons were questioned as witnesses and allegedly numerous violations made during the mall construction were found. It was also revealed that fire exits were blocked.

According to the Investigative Committee Chairman Alexander Bastrykin, the two main versions of the tragedy are an electrical short circuit and arson. Technical, electrical and construction examinations would be conducted as part of the investigation, he said during the meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

President Putin, who arrived in Kemerovo on Tuesday, said that negligence and slovenliness were the reasons for the tragedy. He declared March 28 a national day of mourning.