Teens die in stampede at club

Seventeen people were killed at a crowded nightclub in Venezuela’s capital yesterday after a tear gas device exploded during a brawl and triggered a desperate stampede among hundreds gathered for a graduation celebration, government officials said.

Interior Minister Nestor Reverol said the incident at the ‘‘Los Cotorros’’ club in the middle-class neighbourhood of El Paraiso left eight minors dead and five injured. Eight people were detained, including two teens believed responsible for setting off the tear gas canister.

Family members wept and embraced one another after identifying the remains of their loved ones at a nearby hospital. Outside the club, several mismatched shoes, including a sandal with a puckered red lip decoration, lay on the sidewalk.

‘‘All I know is my son is dead,’’ Nilson Guerra, 43, said.

More than 500 people were believed to be inside the club when the fight broke out.

Julio Cesar Perdomo said his injured son told him the tear gas was launched from inside a bathroom and that partygoers tried to flee but found the club’s door closed.

‘‘The kids couldn’t leave,’’ Perdomo said.

Officials did not provide any information to confirm or deny Perdomo’s account.

Jesus Armas, an opposition councilman who lives in the neighbourhood, said the Interior Ministry should explain how a civilian was able to obtain tear gas canisters that should only be utilised by state security forces. He also urged authorities to investigate whether the club had permission to hold several hundred people inside.

Police have detained the owner of the club for ‘‘not guaranteeing adequate supervision and preventing the entry of any type of weapon.’’ – AP

AP People wait outside police headquarters as their relatives, who were at the stampede at a crowded nightclub, are speaking to authorities in Caracas.