BRASILIA, Brazil (AP) — A fire in a nightclub in southern Brazil killed at least 90 people early Sunday, police and firefighters said.
Sandro Meinerz, spokesman for the police in the city of Santa Maria, told local media that the fire broke out at the Kiss club while a band was performing. He said at least 200 people were injured.
The blaze reportedly began when a performing band started a fireworks display. Acoustic insulation caught fire, and thick smoke filled the club, causing many to die.
The cause of the fire is not yet known, officials said. The total number of victims is still unclear and there may be hundreds injured, Civil Police and regional government spokesman Marcelo Arigoni told Radio Gaucha. The local newspaper, Diario de Santa Maria, reported there could be 180 dead.
At least 180 people have died in a fire that swept through a nightclub in southern Brazil, police say. They say the fire began when a band on stage started a fireworks display at the Kiss nightclub in the city of Santa Maria, in Rio Grande do Sul state. Reports say there was only one exit and panic spread as people tried to get out. Many victims reportedly died from inhaling toxic fumes.
More than 200 people have died and at least 100 others injured in a fire at a nightclub in Brazil. Local media say there were as many as 2,000 people in the club when the blaze began following a pyrotechnics show.
Police said that the victims had died from smoke inhalation or been trampled to death as terrified revellers ran for their lives as the flames engulfed the club. A video posted on Facebook shows paramedics treating those injured outside the club while surrounded by several bodies.
SANTA MARIA — Um incêndio na boate Kiss, no Centro de Santa Maria, no Rio Grande do Sul, deixou mortos e feridos na madrugada deste domingo. Segundo o Corpo de Bombeiros, ao menos 245 corpos foram retirados da boate. Há 48 feridos hospitalizados, segundo o major Bassanelo, da Brigada Militar. No momento da tragédia, havia entre 300 e 400 pessoas no local, participando de uma festa universitária
Originally posted by TrueBritThe Brazilian government is terrible for permitting such dangerous places to exist. They promote alcoholism and the transmission of STD's.
reply to post by butcherguy
I see what you did there.
You are terrible for doing it.
The death toll, which had earlier been put at 245, was revised down by fire officials. Emergency services said a further 117 people were being treated in hospital.
At least 232 people have died in a fire that swept through a nightclub in a university city in southern Brazil, police and officials say.
A firefighter told BBC News he had never seen such a tragedy in his life, with the victims "so young".
"These people are so young… There were many bodies piled up in various parts of the place. Some were in the toilet. They died of asphyxiation."
