DANCE
Brazil nightclub inferno kills 232
FAULTY FIREWORKS sparked a nightclub blaze in Brazil early Sunday that killed at least 232 revelers — many of them trampled to death in a panicked stampede for the exit.
Fire investigators in the southern Brazilian town of Santa Maria said revelers, most of them local college students, were hampered in their escape because the only exit, the main front door of the Kiss nightclub, was initially locked.
“They panicked and ended up trampling each other,” said Col. Guido de Melo of the Rio Grande do Sul Fire Department. Officials said at least 200 people were injured. “People were screaming and trying to run to the exit,” said Luciene Louzeiro, who made it out of the club alive. “It was horrible. I’ve never seen anything like it.”
Witnesses said club security initially tried to prevent people from leaving.
“Some guards thought at first that it was a fight, a huge fight that happened inside the club, and closed the doors so that the people could not leave without paying their bills from the club,” said Glauber Fernandes, a reporter for Band News.
Photo by AFP/Getty