E-mail updates
Follow on Twitter
Subscribe to RSSA fire broke out early Sunday morning at a night club in Santa Maria, in southern Brazil, killing revelers — many of them students. NBC's Mike Taibbi reports.
Updated at 1:23 a.m. ET: At least 233 people were killed after a band’s fireworks show sparked a rapidly moving fire in a packed nightclub in southern Brazil and fleeing patrons were unable to find their way out, local police said.
The bodies removed from the Kiss nightclub in the southern city of Santa Maria were taken to the Municipal Sports Center gymnasium for identification, police said.
Major Gerson da Rosa Ferreira, who led rescue efforts at the scene for the military police, told Reuters that the victims died of asphyxiation or from being trampled.
Police Maj. Cleberson Braida Bastianello told the Associated Press by telephone that the toll had risen to 233 with the death of a hospitalized victim.
Officials earlier counted 232 bodies that had been brought to the gymnasium in Santa Maria.
In addition to the number of deaths, more than 100 people were injured, police said, and most remain hospitalized. Police officials had reported earlier in the day that 245 people were killed. The death toll could still rise, police said later, from the people who are injured.
Fire brigade colonel Guido Pedroso de Melo told O Globo newspaper that rescuers had difficulty entering the premises because of "a barrier of bodies" at the entrance to the club.
Television footage monitored by Reuters overnight showed people crying outside the club as shirtless firefighters used sledge hammers and axes to knock down an exterior wall to open up an exit.
Agencia RBS via AP
People help a man injured in a nightclub fire in Santa Maria city, Brazil, on Sunday.
Rodrigo Moura, who the newspaper Diario de Santa Maria identified as a security guard at the club, said it was at its capacity of between 1,000 and 2,000 people and patrons were pushing and shoving to escape, the AP reported. Police estimated the crowd at some 900 revelers.
Fire officials said at least one exit was locked and that club bouncers, who at first thought those fleeing were trying to skip out on bar tabs, initially blocked patrons from leaving, Reuters reported.
The club's management said in a statement it would help authorities with their investigation, Reuters reported.
One of the club's owners has surrendered to police for questioning, GloboNews TV reported.
"It was really fast. There was a lot of smoke, really dark smoke," survivor Aline Santos Silva, 29, told Globonews TV. "We were only able to get out quickly because we were in a VIP area close to the door."
President Dilma Rousseff cut short a visit to Chile and visited families of the victims at the Municipal Sports Center, where relatives were gathering to identify the bodies. She met with relatives of the injured at Hospital de Caridade de Santa Maria.
Rousseff declared a national three-day mourning period for victims of the fire.
“Sad Sunday!” Tarso Genro, the governor of Rio Grande do Sul state where the club is located, tweeted. “We are taking all of the possible and appropriate actions,” the tweet read, according to a rough translation by NBC News. “I will be in Santa Maria later this morning.”
The precise cause of the fire was still under investigation, authorities said. But Luiza Sousa, a civil police official in Santa Maria, told Reuters that the blaze started when someone with the band ignited what was described as a flare, which then set fire to the ceiling. The fire spread "in seconds," Sousa said.
The tragedy in Brazil recalled other nightclub disaster. A fire in West Warwick, Rhode Island, in 2003 killed 100 people after pyrotechnics used on stage by the rock band Great White set ablaze foam used for soundproofing on the walls. A Buenos Aires nightclub blaze in 2004 killed nearly 200 people.
Reuters noted that Brazil's safety standards and emergency response capabilities are under particular scrutiny as the country prepares to host the 2014 World Cup soccer tournament and the 2016 Summer Olympics.
The Brazilian state’s Health secretary, Ciro Simoni, told the news service that emergency medical supplies from all over the state were being sent to the scene.
Reuters and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Leave a Comment:
Such a sad and unnescessary loss of life, so many young lives taken to soon and in such tragic circumstances. The younger a life is taken the more the pain and remorse. Lot of pain in Santa Maria today.
Wow, that's why you need to be careful with how you write something to someone. In this post, someone flames another person and calls them an arrogant American, when they in fact are the arrogant ignorant American.
"Tom, the name of the country is Brazil, not Brasil. If you are going to insult a people at least get the name of their country right. No one can ever accuse you of having any class. Just another arrogant American."
I know Luc already corrected the poster that the correct spelling for people living in Brasil in their official language of Portuguese is Brasil and that it is only in English that we spell it Brazil. I also know that the poster apologized, but still, an example of why you shouldn't try to flame people.
And I'm not trying to flame anyone, just to use it as an example.
-Ralphy
Terrible situation.
you just don't get it people... regulations and safety codes that the draconian government imposes on it's people get in the way of capitalism ...betcha about half the dead felt that way until they were burning to death ...so who cares about them ...as for the other half who probably thought we need better life and government oversight on codes and safety violators I feel sorry for them and grief about their deaths ...I know it sounds disgusting to say that...but this is what I hear every day...in America from republicans and libertarians ...things like what corporation would knowingly kill it's customers ...look into history ..of american companies and see how many thousands of needless deaths companies caused..all because of the need to maximize profits...
Lesson learned: don't go to nightclubs in South America. Or Rhode Island.
245 people killed? How big is this night club?
seems to me with a capacity of 1000-2000 occupants, there wasnt even close to being sufficient fire escape routes.
Nice job on the byline, NBC. Nothing in the story you posted says what city this occurred in! I have a cousin there celebrating her b-day. Sure would be nice to know if she was anywhere near this.
Santa Maria. Read closer.
Indoor fireworks in a club full of people who are drinking and taking drugs? What could go wrong there?
A fireworks show inside a nightclub... incredible stupidity by the band and the owner of the club. Another comment was saying how safety and code and laws are practically non-existent in Brazil because officials can be paid off. This actually happens in most of Latin America. I know because I lived in another Latin American country. Just to give you an idea, I never took a driver license road test because I was able to bribe the examiner... never even got into a car, he just signed the paperwork. They would rather get the money than do their jobs.
2000 people cramed into a room, and someone thought it was a good idea to allow the band to set off fireworks?
Heads should roll.
Sounds as though everyone already has this figured out. I'm sure that those involved will be pleased.
Carry on...
Someone alert the white house that fire is a serious safety issue. There MUST be something we can ban.
its to bad this had hapened but hey wht would ya expect over in those countries, they dnt know how to do things properly, an i dnt really think they care, that kinda stuff should be banned all together in all countries.
A__rand it happens here just as much .. Rhode island ,new mexico Texas , California...your ignorance is overwhelming... is A__for ayn rand ...that tells us where your ignorance comes from...
I think my Mother told me when I was little, "if you are going to shoot off fireworks take them outside"
Just a glorified Mexico. You either go through the proper channels or just pay someone. It's a lot easier and less expensive to just pay someone. I know, I had a fishing business in Mexico. They make it almost impossible to go through the proper channels.
Of course here in the U. S. we do the same thing, but it is called political donations and then after elected the payoffs come in the way of contracts or government loans. No difference though.
I am an electrician that is constantly repairing fire code violations ..and half the companies I do work for care about their violations ..the other half could give two @!$%#s and call the fire inspectors @!$%#s and try to do the bare bones minimum ...I have to worry about some of their employees...
How many more, Mr Speaker...How many more....
We need a global ban on night clubs as they are killing our young.
Brazil has one of the most liberal gun policies in the world and the fastest growing murder rate too...
How tragically sad. It's a shame more attention isn't put on safety -- maybe now they will develop and implement some laws to hopefully prevent something like this from happening again.
Interesting comment from the security guard. The club was "at capacity between 1,000 and 2,000 people." That's a HUGE range. Does he know the club's capacity or doesn't he? "At capacity" means you have hit your limit, and the limit isn 't a 1,000-people range.
Wow that's eerily similar to the Rhode Island fire that killed 100.
Well if no one else is going to interject the following, I will: I blame Obama, the Liberals, and of course lack of gun control.....the standard answers no matter what the issue.
hahaha no kidding right
It was Bushs' fault
I propose that our leaders introduce legislation that no American shall own, manufacture, be in possession of, or distribute any sort of fire, fire tool, pilot light, lighter, flint, magnifying glass, sparklers or matches. Nothing that could lead to this type of incident happening here in the United States.
People are just not stable enough to own these dangerous instruments of death. Marshall Law must be declared and new laws passed until we learn that fire kills people...ban all FIRE!!
Everyone remembers The Station fire in RI, and I believe there was a recent fire in a club in Chicago as well. If anyone thinks that this country has learned its lesson is sadly mistaken. Fire safety inspections are supposed to be accomplished at least once a year, but there are too many nightclubs and not enough fire marshals for a lot of towns and cities in this country. It is only a matter of time. Even when we see it happen in another country, I guarantee you there will be club owners in this country that will overlook the safety precautions necessary to prevent a tragedy like this all in the name of saving a buck. History repeats itself and the human element coupled with greed and lack of regard for life will ensure that there will indeed be another tragedy.
Great white comes back to mind. But i am sure Brazil doesnt follow americas mistakes or even cares. They live to party and probably had way to many people in the building again with not enough escape routes. Tragedy
To the Chuckster284003: Brazilians spell the country's name "Brasil" and pronunce it "brah-SEEL". In the U.S.A, the name "Brazil" is used, pronounced "brah-ZILL". Both apply to the same nation.