Santa Maria: At least 232 people died on Sunday when a fire tore through a nightclub packed with university students in the southern Brazilian city of Santa Maria, police said. Shocked survivors described a frantic rush to the exits as flames swept through the crowded club in the university town, with scores of young people getting trampled and passing out from smoke inhalation.
Another 131 people were injured, and the death toll from the inferno had climbed rapidly as firefighters pulled bodies from the charred remains of the “Kiss” club, believed to have been packed with hundreds of revelers.
The tragedy appeared to be the deadliest such blaze in more than a decade, since a fire at a shopping center and discotheque in the central Chinese city of Luoyang killed more than 300 people in 2000. Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff cut short a visit to Chile, where she was attending a European and Latin American summit, to head to Santa Maria and oversee the response to the tragedy. “It’s a tragedy for all of us, and I cannot continue here at the summit, because my priority is the Brazilian people,” the visibly emotional leader told reporters traveling with her in Santiago.
She said federal and local authorities are mobilising “all resources, so that we do not just recover the bodies but also support families at this time and provide very efficient care to the injured.” It was not immediately clear what caused the blaze, but media reports said the fire broke out this morning when the nightclub was hosting a university party featuring a rock band using pyrotechnics.
“Everyone was pushing and shoving… The fire started out small, but in a matter of seconds it exploded,” Taynne Vendruscolo, one of the survivors, told reporters. “Those who were close to the stage could not get out.” “It was a very small door for so many people to get out,” added Luana Santos Silva, another survivor, interviewed by TV Globo. (AFP)
