Brazil nightclub fire death toll rises to 245

[SidDithers]

http://www.thestar.com/news/world/article/1320647--brazil-nightclub-fire-death-toll-rises-to-245

BRASILIA, BRAZIL—A deadly fire swept through a crowded nightclub in southern Brazil early Sunday, killing at least 245 people attending a university party and leaving at least 200 injured, police and firefighters said. It appeared to be the deadliest nightclub fire in more than a decade.

Witnesses said that a flare or firework lit by band members may have started the fire.

Police Maj. Cleberson Braida told local news media that the 245 bodies were brought for identification to a gymnasium in the city of Santa Maria, at the southern tip of Brazil near the borders with Argentina and Uruguay

Television images showed smoke pouring out of the Kiss nightclub as shirtless, young male partygoers joined firefighters in wielding axes and sledgehammers, pounding at windows and walls to break through to those trapped inside. Teenagers sprinted from the scene desperately trying to find help — others carried injured and burned friends away in their arms.

Holy fucking shit. Words fail.

Sid

[hollysmom]

1. wow, Crowded indeed, like a flash from the past.

when will they learn?

[ananda]

2. Is that legal?

Fireworks in a crowded nightclub?

[JHB]

5. In Santa Maria, Brasil? I have no idea. Doesn't prevent stupidity, though

in a CNN article related to this tragedy, listing 9 other deadly nightclub fires (just in this century), four of them -- including the deadliest one, in Rhode Island -- are mentioned as involving fireworks or pyrotechnics.

In perhaps the most widely-known nightclub tragedy over the past decade, 100 people died in a fire sparked by pyrotechnics used by the heavy metal band Great White at a nightclub in West Warwick, Rhode Island, on February 21, 2003.

http://www.cnn.com/2013/01/27/world/americas/nightclub-fires/index.html

[hollysmom]

7. Pyro causes a lot of these fires

but I guess the band members never learn - too bad they are always one of the first out. Kind of interrupts that whole Darwin thing.

I believe that that last one in the US, the club owner told the band not to use pyro - but then again, this guy locked the exit doors, so he is not all that good.

[bluestate10]

3. One news report stated there was only one exit door in the club. nt

[SidDithers]

4. That's freakin' insane...

I can't wrap my head around how it's possible for this to happen, in this day and age.



Sid

[JHB]

6. Depends. How strict are the building codes in that city...

...and how bribe-able are the building inspectors?

[pansypoo53219]

8. brazil needs more lawyers.

[TeeYiYi]

9. Terrible... :(

Both fires, this and Rhode Island, appear to have been caused when flammable acoustic insulation caught fire in the walls and ceiling. Tragic.

TYY

[watch the sky]

10. how awful

and they think a flare or a firecracker started it? One staircase, not familiar with Brazillian building codes, but that had to have failed the standards. Huge tragedy, RIP.