THE death toll from a fire in a shopping centre in the Russian city of Kemerovo has risen to 37, according to reports.

The fire tore through the shopping mall in the city of Kemerovo on Sunday, with early figures saying 69 people were missing.

TASS news agency said 40 of those missing were children.

The blaze reportedly started on the fourth floor of the Winter Cherry building, where a cinema is located.

The Investigative Committee, which investigates high-profile crimes, is reporting directly to President Vladimir Putin.

Images on Russian television showed people jumping out of the building as thick black smoke poured out of the windows.

Confronting videos have also surfaced on social media, revealing desperate people trying to break free from the building as the fire approaches.

The popular centre boasts a sauna, a multiplex cinema and a bowling alley that was packed with people on a Sunday afternoon.

Eyewitnesses told reporters on the scene that the centre also contained a zoo with up to 200 animals.

The preliminary findings of the inquiry said the fire started around 11am local time in one of the cinema halls and destroyed more than 1000 square metres of the centre, news agencies reported.

“The roof collapsed in two theatres in the cinema,” the Investigative Committee said.

Around 120 people had been evacuated from the burning centre, rescuers said.

“This shopping centre on several floors was packed with people mid-day Sunday. No one knows exactly how many people there were inside when the fire broke out,” Alexandre Eremeyev, an official with the local Russian emergency services ministry, said in a statement.

“Where to look for people? How many are there? That has greatly complicated the work of the firefighters,” he said, adding that the thick smoke was also hindering their task.

Some 300 firefighters and rescue personnel were rushed to the scene and the fire was brought under control around 1730 GMT, local emergency officials said.

Kemerovo, a coalmining centre in Siberia, is located about 3600km east of Moscow.

More to come.

In Kemerovo in a fire in a shopping center killed 5 people, 30 injured and 17 were missing

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The number of victims in the fire in the shopping and entertainment center "Winter Cherry" in Kemerovo has grown to 30 people. Another 17 people are reported missing. According to the updated data, the fire killed five people: three women, one man and one child. Earlier it was reported about the death of four children.

The Investigative Committee reported that all the victims were in the children's room, located next to the cinema. It is assumed that the focus of the fire was in the cinema.

According to the Kemerovo department of the Ministry of Emergency Situations, the area of ​​the fire was 1.5 thousand square meters. In the two halls of the cinema, located in the shopping center, the ceiling collapsed.

During a fire to ensure security, traffic on Lenin Avenue on a stretch from the street 50 October to Dzerzhinsky Street is temporarily blocked in both directions. From the parking lot all cars were evacuated.

RIA Novosti reports 17 missing persons during a fire in the shopping center. In total, the police turned to relatives and friends of 35 people who told that they can not establish contact with them.

The Investigative Committee instituted criminal proceedings under the articles "Causing death by negligence", "Violating the requirements of fire safety, which caused by accident the death of two or more persons" and "Providing services that do not meet security requirements").