At least 64 people died after a Russian mall fire erupted "like gunpowder"

A criminal investigation was launched Monday after a fire engulfed a shopping center in the Russian city of Kemerovo, claiming at least 64 lives, including a number of children.

The fire broke out late Sunday afternoon and swept through the upper floors of the Winter Cherry Mall, home of a cinema complex, an ice-skating rink and a children's play area. Many of the victims were in the cinema when the blaze broke out.

Russian Emergencies Minister Vladimir Puchkov announced an updated death toll Monday morning, confirming at least nine of the recovered bodies were children.

Dozens more were injured, including an 11-year-old boy whose parents and siblings died.

The fire was extinguished late Sunday, but rescue workers are still struggling to reach the upper floors of the complex after the roof collapsed. More than a dozen people remain unaccounted for.

Russia state-run news agency Interfax cited a source who said the missing had little chance of survival.

Investigators are trying to establish the cause of the blaze, which has yet to be formally announced.

However, Vladimir Chernov, a deputy governor of the Kemerovo region, told relatives of the victims the fire started in the children’s playroom, where there was a trampoline.

"The preliminary suspicion is that a child had a cigarette lighter which ignited foam rubber in this trampoline room, and it erupted like gunpowder," Chernov said.

Chernov added that the fire alarms did not work, and the cinema hall’s doors were shut, effectively trapping the victims inside.

The shopping mall was opened in 2013 and includes a cinema, restaurants, a sauna, a bowling alley, and a petting zoo. All of the animals reportedly perished.

The head of the company that manages the complex and the owner of the mall have both been detained, according to Russia's Investigative Committee.

Videos posted on social media showed people jumping from windows to escape the flames on Sunday.

Cover image: The Zimnyaya Vishnya shopping centre in Prospekt Lenina Street hit by fire (Danil Aikin\TASS via Getty Images)