Brazil in mourning
Police arrest owner of club and two band members
Relatives of victims of a fire that broke out at a nightclub weeping during funeral ceremonies in Santa Maria in Brazil. At least 233 people died and 116 were injured early Sunday when a fire tore through the Kiss nightclub (inset) packed with university students.
SANTA MARIA: Brazilians are mourning the victims of a nightclub blaze in a small college town that left more than 230 people dead and over 100 injured, with many still fighting for their lives.
Shocked survivors, mostly science students in Santa Maria, described how revellers were trampled to death or succumbed to smoke inhalation as blocked exits and rising flames caused panic.
Officials said 233 people had been killed, with 116 more injured.
Police have arrested an owner of the nightclub. Two members of a band were also arrested. An arrest warrant has been issued for another owner of the club.
President Dilma Rousseff, visibly shaken by the news, cut short her visit to the Europe-Latin America summit in Chile to fly to the town.
Brazil cancelled an event Monday launching a 500-day countdown to next year’s World Cup tournament, and the disaster will raise concerns about public safety as Brazil also prepares to host the 2016 Olympic Games.
The fire broke out on Sunday when the nightclub was hosting a university party.
Survivor Michelle Pereira said a member of the band had lifted a flare into the air, which set the ceiling on fire. Flames quickly engulfed the entire room.
“Everyone was pushing and shoving,” another survivor Taynne Vendruscolo said. “The fire started out small, but within seconds it exploded. Those who were close to the stage could not get out.”
Santa Maria fire chief Guido de Melo said many people were trampled. Others were suffocated by the smoke.
Club security had blocked people from leaving, sparking a stampede, he added.
Customers said guards at the club had kept the fire exit locked to prevent people from leaving without paying for their drinks.
“It was sheer horror,” Mattheus Bortolotto, a young dentist, said. “I lost a very dear friend.”
“The emergency exits did not work, and then I lost my friend in the confusion. Then a girl died in my arms. I felt her heart stop beating.”
This is the deadliest such blaze in more than a decade, since a fire at a shopping centre and discotheque in the central Chinese city of Luoyang killed more than 300 people in 2000. — AFP