More than 230 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
Further
claims bouncers initially tried to stop people from escaping because
they could not prove they had paid their drinks bills
Fire started after band let off a firework on stage
Video shows dramatic scenes of people trying to rescue people from the club, using axes to smash through an outer wall
Security guards tried to stop
revellers escaping from a Brazil nightclub as a fire ravaged through the
building killing 232 people, it has been claimed.
An
eyewitness to the incident, which happened in the early hours of
Saturday morning, said door staff initially did not understand what was
happening and tried to stop people leaving through an exit door.
It was claimed that bouncers stopped people escaping because they could not prove they had paid their drinks bills.
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 buildin
Up to 2,000 people - mostly students - were in the Kiss nightclub om Santa Maria, southern Brazil, when the fire started.
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.
Witnesses said the club's ceiling, which contained sound insulation foam, caught fire after a pyrotechnic stunt went wrong.
Most of the victims died of suffocation or were trampled in a stampede for the venue's only emergency exit, police said.
The
nightclub was operating illegally, the fire extinguishers were not
working, and many victims confused the sign for the exit with that for
the toilets, where 50 were later found dead.
There
were also claims that bouncers initially tried to stop people from
escaping by holding the doors shut because they could not prove they had
paid their drinks bills
They said the bouncers opened the doors after two minutes when they realised what was happening.
The club operated a system where customers are issued with a piece of paper and bar staff tick off what they have drunk.
Customers then pay at the till. Before leaving they have to show the doormen proof they have paid.
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.
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 about 10 minutes into
the show, setting fire to part of the stage.
Brazilian
President Dilma Rousseff 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.
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
yesterday, 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.
