BRAZIL: Hundreds Dead In Nightclub Fire

The Rio Times reports:

At least 245 people have died in a nightclub fire in central Rio Grande do Sul, police have said. A band’s pyrotechnics reportedly started the blaze at the Kiss nightclub in Santa Maria at 2:30 AM Saturday night. Police finished removing bodies from the scene late Sunday morning, Folha de São Paulo reported. In addition to the 245 confirmed dead by military police, 48 people are injured and receiving treatment. Many people died after inhaling toxic fumes; and scores of people suffocated or were trampled as they fled the scene. Local media have reported that the club had only a single exit and panic spread as people tried to get out. Firefighters had to cut a hole in the wall of the nightclub to access victims and extinguish the fire. Footage on Globo TV showed people crying outside, while firefighters knocked down walls to gain access using sledgehammers.

Most of the victims were college students.