Serpo
27th January 2013, 02:43 PM
At least 232 die in Brazilian nightclub fire as survivors say security guards tried to stop people leaving burning building
'Security guards did not know what was happening so tried to stop people leaving', according to eyewitness
Death toll still unknown and may be higher as more bodies are pulled from wreckage while hundreds more are expected to be injured
Official cause unknown, but reports claim it was caused by a firework during a band performance
Witness said a 'weak' flare hit the ceiling, and 'spread in a matter of seconds'
Video shows dramatic scenes of people trying to rescue people from the club, using axes to smash through an outer wall
By Helen Collis (http://www.dailymail.co.uk/home/search.html?s=&authornamef=Helen+Collis) and Larisa Brown (http://www.dailymail.co.uk/home/search.html?s=&authornamef=Larisa+Brown)
PUBLISHED: 12:49 GMT, 27 January 2013 | UPDATED: 21:16 GMT, 27 January 2013
Security guards tried to stop revellers escaping from a Brazil nightclub as a fire ravaged through the building killing at least 232 people, it has been claimed.
An eyewitness to the incident, which happened in the early hours of this morning, said door staff initially did not understand what was happening and tried to stop people leaving through an exit door.
In what appears to be the deadliest nightclub fire for a decade, people were reportedly screaming 'there's a fire' but were trapped inside the burning building.
SCROLL DOWN FOR VIDEOS...
http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2013/01/27/article-2269057-17324CF4000005DC-354_634x419.jpg Appalling loss of life: Firefighters work to douse a fire at the Kiss Club in Santa Maria city, Rio Grande do Sul state, Brazil, where hundreds of people died
http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2013/01/27/article-2269057-1732930F000005DC-403_634x399.jpg People run to safety and try to rescue others after a massive inferno tore through a Brazil nightclub in the early hours of this morning killing at least 232 people. A man is seen carrying a victim, centre
Initial reports were that 90 people perished in the blaze, but the death toll has steadily been rising as more bodies have been found in the packed nightclub.
It was earlier reported that as many as 245 people had died in the fire but a new count of bodies brought to a nearby gym has led to an estimated count of 232 people dead.
While the official cause of the blaze has not been stated, local reports claim it was sparked by a firework set off during a band's performance.
More...
Murilo de Toledo Tiecher, a 26-year-old medical student, told Zero Hora newspaper: 'People were screaming "there's a fire" but the security guards didn't budge and tried to keep the door shut.
'Five or six people knocked over one security guard and knocked down the door. It was the only exit.
'The first people to get out tried to pull out whoever was still inside. Hands and arms appeared from the curtain of smoke. We pulled out various people. I pulled out a girl by the hair. It was chaos, the worst desperation.'
But other eyewitnesses said that once the security guards realised how serious the fire was, they tried to help people escape.
The exact number of victims is still unknown and there may be hundreds injured, civil police and regional government spokesman Marcelo Arigoni told Radio Gaucha.
http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2013/01/27/article-2269057-17321E57000005DC-261_634x422.jpg Firefighters battle to put out the fire which tore through the Kiss Club in Santa Maria, southern Brazil
http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2013/01/27/article-2269057-17321F16000005DC-856_634x375.jpg Emergency services say they feared at least 20 more bodies remained inside the building, and hundreds of others were injured
He told the radio a truck carrying 70 bodies had arrived at the Municipal Sports Centre, which was being used as an improvised morgue.
Police believe there are about 20 bodies still inside the club.
Video footage taken during the rescue shows dramatic scenes of local people trying to smash through an outer wall of the club to rescue people.
Sandro Meinerz, spokesman for the police in the city of Santa Maria, 550km from Porto Alegre, southern Brazil, told local media that the fire broke out at the Kiss club while a band was performing.
The cause of the fire is not yet known, however, some media reports claim the blaze was ignited by a firework set off inside the club during the band's performance.
http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2013/01/27/article-2269057-17331ACD000005DC-476_634x468.jpg Chaos: A crowd stands outside the Kiss nightclub in the early hours of this morning as the nightmare unfolds
Witnesses said that a flare or firework lit by band members may have started the fire.
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.
'There was so much smoke and fire, it was complete panic and it took a long time for people to get out, there were so many dead,' survivor Luana Santos Silva told the Globo TV network.
Silva added that firefighters and ambulances responded quickly after the fire broke out, but that it spread too fast inside the packed club for them to help.
http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2013/01/27/article-2269057-173257CF000005DC-200_634x398.jpg Rescue: Emergency services filled the street outside the club's entrance as more bodies were pulled from the charred building
http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2013/01/27/article-2269057-17325D07000005DC-929_634x403.jpg Carnage: Locals help evacuate injured victims as clubbers look on in horror following the nightclub fire
Michele Pereira, another survivor, told the Folha de S. Paulo newspaper that she was near the stage and that the fire broke out after band members lit flares.
'The band that was on stage began to use flares and, suddenly, they stopped the show and pointed them upward. At that point the ceiling caught fire. It was really weak but in a matter of seconds it spread,' Pereira said.
Ingrid Goldani, 20, who had been working at the club, said two bands were playing on Saturday night.
She said the fire had begun after a member of one of the bands lit a flare (others said a firework) about 10 minutes into the show, setting fire to part of the stage.
According to her, the fire took hold of the club in less than three minutes.
'The band tried to put out the fire with water, but they didn't manage to,'she said.
'After this, they tried with a fire extinguisher. It was all really quick.'
Civil Police and regional government spokesman Marcelo Arigoni told Radio Gaucha earlier that the total number of victims is still unclear and there may be hundreds injured.
Local newspaper Diario de Santa Maria reported that the fire started at around 2am.
Club security guard, Rodrigo Moura, is quoted in the paper as saying the venue was at maximum capacity of between 1,000 and 2,000. He said partygoers were pushing and shoving to escape.
http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2013/01/27/article-2269057-17323A2A000005DC-495_634x471.jpg Overcome: Police, ambulance staff and firefighters helped the victims receive medical assistance in a street outside the Kiss Club
http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2013/01/27/article-2269057-17325459000005DC-601_634x364.jpg Traumatised: A police officer helps a woman survivor next to the Kiss nightclub in Brazil's Santa Maria
Ezekiel Corte Real, 23, was quoted by the paper as saying he helped people to escape. 'I just got out because I'm very strong,' he said.
Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff today cancelled her participation in a regional summit to travel back to Brazil following news of the crisis.
'I want to say to the people of our country and to the people of Santa Maria that at this moment of sadness we are together, and necessarily we will overcome,' said Ms Rousseff told reporters on the sidelines of a summit of Latin American and European leaders, in Chile.
http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2013/01/27/article-2269057-17338BE1000005DC-867_634x416.jpg A firefighter inspects the club after the fire. The shoes and belongings of the victims are pictured on the floor
She was close to tears as she spoke and said that the government was 'mobilising resources' to deal with the tragedy.
'Sad Sunday', tweeted Tarso Genro, the governor of the southern state of Rio Grande do Sul. He said all possible action was being taken and that he would be in the city later in the day.
Santa Maria, at the southern tip of Brazil near the borders with Argentina and Uruguay, is a major university city with a population of around a quarter of a million.
Devastation: Relatives of victims cry in the street after news of the fire is made public
Grief-stricken: As news of the tragic blaze reached hundreds of relatives of the victims, they began to arrive at the scene in complete shock
As news of the tragedy was made public, relatives of the victims began to appear at the scene.
Hundreds of shocked and distraught grieving families gathered in the street, but were kept cordoned off away from the charred Kiss club.
The fire appeared to be among the world's deadliest in a nightclub since a 2004 fire killed 194 people at an overcrowded working-class nightclub in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
A blaze at the Lame Horse nightclub in Perm, Russia, broke out in December, 2009, when an indoor fireworks display ignited a plastic ceiling, killing 152.
A nightclub fire in the US state of Rhode Island in 2003 killed 100 people after pyrotechnics used as a stage prop by the 1980s rock band Great White set ablaze cheap soundproofing foam on the walls and ceiling.
And a welding accident reportedly set off a December 2000, fire at a club in Luoyang, China, killing 309.
VIDEO Firefighters battle nightclub fire in Brazil
'Security guards did not know what was happening so tried to stop people leaving', according to eyewitness
Death toll still unknown and may be higher as more bodies are pulled from wreckage while hundreds more are expected to be injured
Official cause unknown, but reports claim it was caused by a firework during a band performance
Witness said a 'weak' flare hit the ceiling, and 'spread in a matter of seconds'
Video shows dramatic scenes of people trying to rescue people from the club, using axes to smash through an outer wall
By Helen Collis (http://www.dailymail.co.uk/home/search.html?s=&authornamef=Helen+Collis) and Larisa Brown (http://www.dailymail.co.uk/home/search.html?s=&authornamef=Larisa+Brown)
PUBLISHED: 12:49 GMT, 27 January 2013 | UPDATED: 21:16 GMT, 27 January 2013
Security guards tried to stop revellers escaping from a Brazil nightclub as a fire ravaged through the building killing at least 232 people, it has been claimed.
An eyewitness to the incident, which happened in the early hours of this morning, said door staff initially did not understand what was happening and tried to stop people leaving through an exit door.
In what appears to be the deadliest nightclub fire for a decade, people were reportedly screaming 'there's a fire' but were trapped inside the burning building.
SCROLL DOWN FOR VIDEOS...
http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2013/01/27/article-2269057-17324CF4000005DC-354_634x419.jpg Appalling loss of life: Firefighters work to douse a fire at the Kiss Club in Santa Maria city, Rio Grande do Sul state, Brazil, where hundreds of people died
http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2013/01/27/article-2269057-1732930F000005DC-403_634x399.jpg People run to safety and try to rescue others after a massive inferno tore through a Brazil nightclub in the early hours of this morning killing at least 232 people. A man is seen carrying a victim, centre
Initial reports were that 90 people perished in the blaze, but the death toll has steadily been rising as more bodies have been found in the packed nightclub.
It was earlier reported that as many as 245 people had died in the fire but a new count of bodies brought to a nearby gym has led to an estimated count of 232 people dead.
While the official cause of the blaze has not been stated, local reports claim it was sparked by a firework set off during a band's performance.
More...
Murilo de Toledo Tiecher, a 26-year-old medical student, told Zero Hora newspaper: 'People were screaming "there's a fire" but the security guards didn't budge and tried to keep the door shut.
'Five or six people knocked over one security guard and knocked down the door. It was the only exit.
'The first people to get out tried to pull out whoever was still inside. Hands and arms appeared from the curtain of smoke. We pulled out various people. I pulled out a girl by the hair. It was chaos, the worst desperation.'
But other eyewitnesses said that once the security guards realised how serious the fire was, they tried to help people escape.
The exact number of victims is still unknown and there may be hundreds injured, civil police and regional government spokesman Marcelo Arigoni told Radio Gaucha.
http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2013/01/27/article-2269057-17321E57000005DC-261_634x422.jpg Firefighters battle to put out the fire which tore through the Kiss Club in Santa Maria, southern Brazil
http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2013/01/27/article-2269057-17321F16000005DC-856_634x375.jpg Emergency services say they feared at least 20 more bodies remained inside the building, and hundreds of others were injured
He told the radio a truck carrying 70 bodies had arrived at the Municipal Sports Centre, which was being used as an improvised morgue.
Police believe there are about 20 bodies still inside the club.
Video footage taken during the rescue shows dramatic scenes of local people trying to smash through an outer wall of the club to rescue people.
Sandro Meinerz, spokesman for the police in the city of Santa Maria, 550km from Porto Alegre, southern Brazil, told local media that the fire broke out at the Kiss club while a band was performing.
The cause of the fire is not yet known, however, some media reports claim the blaze was ignited by a firework set off inside the club during the band's performance.
http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2013/01/27/article-2269057-17331ACD000005DC-476_634x468.jpg Chaos: A crowd stands outside the Kiss nightclub in the early hours of this morning as the nightmare unfolds
Witnesses said that a flare or firework lit by band members may have started the fire.
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.
'There was so much smoke and fire, it was complete panic and it took a long time for people to get out, there were so many dead,' survivor Luana Santos Silva told the Globo TV network.
Silva added that firefighters and ambulances responded quickly after the fire broke out, but that it spread too fast inside the packed club for them to help.
http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2013/01/27/article-2269057-173257CF000005DC-200_634x398.jpg Rescue: Emergency services filled the street outside the club's entrance as more bodies were pulled from the charred building
http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2013/01/27/article-2269057-17325D07000005DC-929_634x403.jpg Carnage: Locals help evacuate injured victims as clubbers look on in horror following the nightclub fire
Michele Pereira, another survivor, told the Folha de S. Paulo newspaper that she was near the stage and that the fire broke out after band members lit flares.
'The band that was on stage began to use flares and, suddenly, they stopped the show and pointed them upward. At that point the ceiling caught fire. It was really weak but in a matter of seconds it spread,' Pereira said.
Ingrid Goldani, 20, who had been working at the club, said two bands were playing on Saturday night.
She said the fire had begun after a member of one of the bands lit a flare (others said a firework) about 10 minutes into the show, setting fire to part of the stage.
According to her, the fire took hold of the club in less than three minutes.
'The band tried to put out the fire with water, but they didn't manage to,'she said.
'After this, they tried with a fire extinguisher. It was all really quick.'
Civil Police and regional government spokesman Marcelo Arigoni told Radio Gaucha earlier that the total number of victims is still unclear and there may be hundreds injured.
Local newspaper Diario de Santa Maria reported that the fire started at around 2am.
Club security guard, Rodrigo Moura, is quoted in the paper as saying the venue was at maximum capacity of between 1,000 and 2,000. He said partygoers were pushing and shoving to escape.
http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2013/01/27/article-2269057-17323A2A000005DC-495_634x471.jpg Overcome: Police, ambulance staff and firefighters helped the victims receive medical assistance in a street outside the Kiss Club
http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2013/01/27/article-2269057-17325459000005DC-601_634x364.jpg Traumatised: A police officer helps a woman survivor next to the Kiss nightclub in Brazil's Santa Maria
Ezekiel Corte Real, 23, was quoted by the paper as saying he helped people to escape. 'I just got out because I'm very strong,' he said.
Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff today cancelled her participation in a regional summit to travel back to Brazil following news of the crisis.
'I want to say to the people of our country and to the people of Santa Maria that at this moment of sadness we are together, and necessarily we will overcome,' said Ms Rousseff told reporters on the sidelines of a summit of Latin American and European leaders, in Chile.
http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2013/01/27/article-2269057-17338BE1000005DC-867_634x416.jpg A firefighter inspects the club after the fire. The shoes and belongings of the victims are pictured on the floor
She was close to tears as she spoke and said that the government was 'mobilising resources' to deal with the tragedy.
'Sad Sunday', tweeted Tarso Genro, the governor of the southern state of Rio Grande do Sul. He said all possible action was being taken and that he would be in the city later in the day.
Santa Maria, at the southern tip of Brazil near the borders with Argentina and Uruguay, is a major university city with a population of around a quarter of a million.
Devastation: Relatives of victims cry in the street after news of the fire is made public
Grief-stricken: As news of the tragic blaze reached hundreds of relatives of the victims, they began to arrive at the scene in complete shock
As news of the tragedy was made public, relatives of the victims began to appear at the scene.
Hundreds of shocked and distraught grieving families gathered in the street, but were kept cordoned off away from the charred Kiss club.
The fire appeared to be among the world's deadliest in a nightclub since a 2004 fire killed 194 people at an overcrowded working-class nightclub in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
A blaze at the Lame Horse nightclub in Perm, Russia, broke out in December, 2009, when an indoor fireworks display ignited a plastic ceiling, killing 152.
A nightclub fire in the US state of Rhode Island in 2003 killed 100 people after pyrotechnics used as a stage prop by the 1980s rock band Great White set ablaze cheap soundproofing foam on the walls and ceiling.
And a welding accident reportedly set off a December 2000, fire at a club in Luoyang, China, killing 309.
VIDEO Firefighters battle nightclub fire in Brazil