Colombo, March 29 (newsin.asia) – Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena, on Thursday visited the Russian Embassy in Colombo to offered his condolences over the tragic fire in a Russian leisure center in Kemorovo, which killed 64 people.
Sirisena wrote a special note of condolence to his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin in the Condolence Book set up at the Embassy.
In his note to the Russian President, Sirisena said the Sri Lankan people shared the sorrow of the Russian people and extended condolences on behalf of his government and the citizens of Sri Lanka.
Sirisena also engaged in discussions with Russia’s Ambassador to Sri Lanka, Yuri Materiy.
Russia observed a day of mourning on Wednesday while the first of the 64 victims were laid to rest.
Flags were lowered to half-staff across Russia as the first funerals took place in the industrial city of Kemerovo, about 1,900 miles east of Moscow. Mourners wailed as two elementary school-age siblings, Konstantin and Maria Agarkov, were buried alongside their grandmother Nadezhda, who perished with them in the fire, The Moscow Times reported.
Among the official death toll were 41 children, many of whom were trapped in a movie theater by locked exit doors.
Five people have been arrested, including the mall’s technical director and a security guard accused of turning off the fire alarm system.