Brazilian nightclub fire !

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.