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Argonath RPG Community => Speakerbox => World and local news => Topic started by: Batta on January 27, 2013, 12:53:28 pm

Title: Dozens die in nightclub fire in Santa Maria, Brazil
Post by: Batta on January 27, 2013, 12:53:28 pm
At least 90 people have died in a fire that swept through a nightclub in southern Brazil, police say.

(http://news.bbcimg.co.uk/media/images/65534000/gif/_65534620_brazil_santamaria_01_2013.gif)

They say the fire began when a band on stage started a fireworks display at the Kiss nightclub in the city of Santa Maria, in Rio Grande do Sul state.

Reports say there was only one exit and panic spread as people tried to get out. Many victims reportedly died from inhaling toxic fumes.

The fire is now out and bodies are being removed from the scene.

"Fire services are looking for other victims. We can't give an exact number of victims. People started panicking and ended up treading on each other," fire chief Guido de Melo told local media.

A reporter at the scene told local radio that the nightclub had a capacity for up to 2,000 people and was believed to be full on a Saturday night.

Thick smoke engulfed the venue after acoustic insulation caught fire, officials say.

Fire crews reportedly knocked through a wall to help those trapped inside escape.

The death toll could be as high as 130, the reporter said.

Hundreds of people have been taken to hospital.

Update: Ansa announces around 137 confirmed deaths at 12:48 UTC+1

(http://news.bbcimg.co.uk/media/images/65536000/jpg/_65536164_65536156.jpg)

Update: At least 180 people have died (BBC) 14:16 UTC+1

Update: At least 245 people have died (BBC) 15:56 GMT
Title: Re: Dozens die in nightclub fire in Santa Maria, Brazil
Post by: AK47 on January 27, 2013, 01:30:41 pm
Dayum. People should understand that you do not use fireworks inside. :poke:
Title: Re: Dozens die in nightclub fire in Santa Maria, Brazil
Post by: JayL on January 27, 2013, 01:59:26 pm
Update your number to approximately 200. So far they have not gathered a full official list of the dead. State governor and our Bulgarian president herself said they will visit the city. Police say most of the people there died of intoxication and haven't found any burnt bodies yet, and they will have quite a while of work getting all corpses out.

Post Merge: January 27, 2013, 02:25:05 pm
Firefighter Corps say 245 dead
Title: Re: Dozens die in nightclub fire in Santa Maria, Brazil
Post by: Leonardo on January 27, 2013, 02:53:38 pm
Was about to post this... this is definetly the worst tragedy in the history of our state. Santa Maria is about 300km from where i live, and i know quite a few people whose parents lived there - They're taking the corpses away from the scene with heavy cargo trucks, so you can imagine the situation. I've also heard in the local radio that the club security had attempted to lock the main entrance and the emergency exit to avoid people from leaving without paying, hopefully it's a lie...

Death toll is about 250 now, and it might raise, since the club had about 1,500 people by the time the fire started.
Title: Re: Dozens die in nightclub fire in Santa Maria, Brazil
Post by: Mikal on January 27, 2013, 03:38:52 pm
How the fuck do this many people manage to die in a fire? :trust:
Title: Re: Dozens die in nightclub fire in Santa Maria, Brazil
Post by: Jamba on January 27, 2013, 03:42:43 pm
How the f**k do this many people manage to die in a fire? :trust:

Imagine more than 200 people inside a place where they have blocked the door. You simply can't get out, so you can just scream until you die. Really sad.
Title: Re: Dozens die in nightclub fire in Santa Maria, Brazil
Post by: PulseEffect on January 27, 2013, 03:50:11 pm
My thoughts are with those of the dead people's family and friends.
Title: Re: Dozens die in nightclub fire in Santa Maria, Brazil
Post by: Leonardo on January 27, 2013, 04:04:52 pm
How the f**k do this many people manage to die in a fire? :trust:

The main entrance was blocked out by club security according to testimonies, the only exit in the club was the emergency door - quite small, for the number of people inside the club, the fire has spread EXTREMLY quick (matter of about 3 ~ 5 minutes) inside the entire club, and most people who were trying to leave fainted inside and died of asphyxia, it was a TOTAL confusion with nearly 2,000 people trying to run off at the same time - just think about the scene.
Title: Re: Dozens die in nightclub fire in Santa Maria, Brazil
Post by: Brian on January 27, 2013, 04:08:24 pm
Im listening the radio and it said 243 got found dead so far
Title: Re: Dozens die in nightclub fire in Santa Maria, Brazil
Post by: Mikal on January 27, 2013, 04:19:15 pm
The main entrance was blocked out by club security according to testimonies, the only exit in the club was the emergency door - quite small, for the number of people inside the club, the fire has spread EXTREMLY quick (matter of about 3 ~ 5 minutes) inside the entire club, and most people who were trying to leave fainted inside and died of asphyxia, it was a TOTAL confusion with nearly 2,000 people trying to run off at the same time - just think about the scene.
2,000 people fit in a night club though? :lol:
Title: Re: Dozens die in nightclub fire in Santa Maria, Brazil
Post by: matheus_98 on January 27, 2013, 04:24:06 pm
All news at http://www.cnn.com (http://www.cnn.com)
Title: Re: Dozens die in nightclub fire in Santa Maria, Brazil
Post by: JayL on January 27, 2013, 04:25:55 pm
2,000 people fit in a night club though? :lol:

2.000 irresponsible people certainly do. Accidents in nightclubs because of complete irresponsibility are commonplace, though this one broke all records of stupidity and carelessness, both from the staff and the people who went there.
Title: Re: Dozens die in nightclub fire in Santa Maria, Brazil
Post by: Thom on January 27, 2013, 04:33:23 pm
My thoughts are with those of the dead people's family and friends.

:(
Title: Re: Dozens die in nightclub fire in Santa Maria, Brazil
Post by: Vector on January 27, 2013, 04:37:37 pm
it would be a moment of sadness and sorrows to the people's homes who died in this accident  :( :( :( :( :( :( :(
Title: Re: Dozens die in nightclub fire in Santa Maria, Brazil
Post by: Leonardo on January 27, 2013, 04:39:44 pm
Pyrotechnic equipment in a indoor place should be plain common sense rather than law regulation.. The overall number of dead now confirmed; 245.

2,000 people fit in a night club though? :lol:

Yes, but i'm pretty sure it exceeded the normal capacity of the club. The problem here was the rather small exit, allied to the club's security stupidity and the panic, which is inevitable.
Title: Re: Dozens die in nightclub fire in Santa Maria, Brazil
Post by: Dolfagr on January 27, 2013, 05:06:38 pm
The worst part is that most of them were young people, who had most of their lives ahead. I hope this incident will not affect the tourists who are planning to visit Brazil for the World Cup on the other hand...
Title: Re: Dozens die in nightclub fire in Santa Maria, Brazil
Post by: JayL on January 27, 2013, 05:21:31 pm
The worst part is that most of them were young people, who had most of their lives ahead. I hope this incident will not affect the tourists who are planning to visit Brazil for the World Cup on the other hand...

The only way this will get to tourists is if they assume Brazilian nightclubs are safe or quality-checked... :lol:
Title: Re: Dozens die in nightclub fire in Santa Maria, Brazil
Post by: Batta on January 27, 2013, 05:33:29 pm
You can call it in many ways, but not accident.

An accident happens when you don't expect it and all the safety measures are taken. This was obviously not the case.

There were many facts that led to this:

1. Fireworks inside a building.. genius.
2. Not enough emergency exits.
3. Too many people.
4. Owners locking exits to prever people from getting out without paying (if confirmed).

We obviously have to be sorry for what happened but shouldn't watch it as a natural calamity. Someone has big faults here.
Title: Re: Dozens die in nightclub fire in Santa Maria, Brazil
Post by: Leonardo on January 27, 2013, 05:33:38 pm
The worst part is that most of them were young people, who had most of their lives ahead. I hope this incident will not affect the tourists who are planning to visit Brazil for the World Cup on the other hand...

Actually, the majority of the public in this club were students of the Federal University of Santa Maria, who were attending courses of the most varied things (Medicine, Veterinary Medicine, Biology, Law, Architecture, Civil Engineering and more..)

The only way this will get to tourists is if they assume Brazilian nightclubs are safe or quality-checked... :lol:

The last charter emitted of the club was in August, 2012. There we have the scapegoating of the media.
Title: Re: Dozens die in nightclub fire in Santa Maria, Brazil
Post by: JayL on January 27, 2013, 06:40:24 pm
The last charter emitted of the club was in August, 2012. There we have the scapegoating of the media.

It's not just nightclubs. It is a part of the Brazilian culture this lack of worry about the quality of things. Public and private services as a whole are all plagued by this. And even if this nightclub had OK papers, the owners most certainly bribed their way in (easy thing to do)...
Title: Re: Dozens die in nightclub fire in Santa Maria, Brazil
Post by: Boozman on January 27, 2013, 06:42:50 pm
This is getting out of control. There should be a nationwide ban on fires in Brazil...
Title: Re: Dozens die in nightclub fire in Santa Maria, Brazil
Post by: Pandalink on January 27, 2013, 07:01:47 pm
How the f**k do this many people manage to die in a fire? :trust:
By having a shitty number of fire doors.

This is why there are meant to be numerous fire doors, especially in a venue with a 2000 person capacity.

This is getting out of control. There should be a nationwide ban on fires in Brazil...
oic
Title: Re: Dozens die in nightclub fire in Santa Maria, Brazil
Post by: Batta on January 27, 2013, 07:36:41 pm
Gary Duffy:

The priority of course is to identify the victims and to support their families. But urgent questions are already being asked about how a tragedy of this scale was allowed to happen.

Is it true that a flare was lit during a performance on stage and this started the fire - and was this authorised? Who was responsible for ensuring this club had adequate exits, and again is it true that only one was available at the time of the tragedy, as some have claimed.

There will be pressure for these public safety issues to be urgently addressed, both for the sake of the victims, and as Brazil prepares to stage a series of major international sporting events over the next four years.



'Ceiling on fire'

The fire broke out some time after 02:00 (04:00 GMT) when between 300 and 500 people are believed to have been in the club, where a band was playing.

Thick smoke engulfed the venue after acoustic insulation caught fire, officials say.



"We looked up at the ceiling in front of the stage and it was catching fire," eyewitness Luana Santos Silva, 23, told Brazil's Globo TV.

"My sister grabbed me and dragged me out on the ground."

The exit, she said, was a "small door for lots of people to come out by".

The young woman's sister, Aline Santos Silva, 29, added: "We managed to see it in time and to get out quickly, before the smoke began to spread.

"The smoke spread really quickly, it didn't give enough time for people to get out. I think people started to feel unwell, and then they began to come out covered in black smoke stains."

The witness commended the emergency services: "Help arrived really quickly, ambulances, police."

Fire crews tried knocking through an exterior wall to help those trapped inside to escape.

Fifty bodies were found in the club's toilets, a doctor told AP news agency.

"The toxic smoke made people lose their sense of direction so they were unable to find their way to the exit," said Dr Paulo Afonso Beltrame, speaking by phone from Caridade hospital.

"Apparently they confused the bathroom door with the exit door."

Speaking to BBC Brasil, Sergeant Arthur Rigue, from the local fire department, said: "I never witnessed a tragedy like this in my whole career.

"These people are so young… There were many bodies piled up in various parts of the place. Some were in the toilet. They died of asphyxiation."

Fire chief Guido de Melo told local media. "People started panicking and ended up treading on each other."



Other nightclub fires:

2009: Santika Club, Bangkok, Thailand - sparked by fireworks; 66 killed
2009: Lame Horse Club, Perm, Russia - sparked by fireworks; 150 killed
2004: Cromagnon Republic Club, Buenos Aires, Argentina - flare starts fire which kills 194
2003: The Station, Rhode Island, US - sparked by fireworks; 100 killed
2000: Luoyang dance hall fire, China - fire blamed on welders kills 309
1996: Ozone Disco Club, Quezon City, Philippines - 160 killed
1990: Happy Land, New York, US - arson kills 89 at unlicensed club
1977: Beverly Hills Supper Club, Southgate, Kentucky - 165 killed
1970: Club 5-7, Saint-Laurent-du-Pont, France - 146 killed;
1942: Cocoanut Grove, Boston, US - 492 killed.
Title: Re: Dozens die in nightclub fire in Santa Maria, Brazil
Post by: SugarD on January 28, 2013, 12:13:27 am
You can call it in many ways, but not accident.

An accident happens when you don't expect it and all the safety measures are taken. This was obviously not the case.

There were many facts that led to this:

1. Fireworks inside a building.. genius.
2. Not enough emergency exits.
3. Too many people.
4. Owners locking exits to prever people from getting out without paying (if confirmed).
Agreed. Just from reading the first couple posts, the first three points you made were already obvious to me. I'm not a Fire Marshal or Inspector. If it's that obvious to me, it should have been common sense to anyone else there. This never needed to happen.
Title: Re: Dozens die in nightclub fire in Santa Maria, Brazil
Post by: Antonio. on January 28, 2013, 12:29:58 am
2,000 people fit in a night club though? :lol:
Not every night clubs are the same... what the fuck are you posting?
Title: Re: Dozens die in nightclub fire in Santa Maria, Brazil
Post by: Mikal on January 28, 2013, 01:48:47 am
Not every night clubs are the same... what the f**k are you posting?
What do you mean what am I posting? :poke:
Title: Re: Dozens die in nightclub fire in Santa Maria, Brazil
Post by: Batta on January 28, 2013, 01:43:02 pm
it should have been common sense to anyone else there.

Why do you need to listen to your common sense when you can simply go around rules and get more money spending less? That's how they thought.

Now they should receive an examplary punition.

As it usually happens for tragedies of this level, this should at least start a campaign of security measures checks and/or improve the laws and regular checks on activities.

Note that this was also probably caused by corruption. The night club didn't have/shouldn't have had any permissions. Why were they still running then? Obviously someone had his interests to keep it open.




Updates:

Three people were arrested over the fire, unconfirmed local reports said.

Police on Monday arrested two musicians from the band, Gurizada Fandangueira, and one of the club's owners, the website of the Diario de Santa Maria newspaper reported. A fourth person was being sought, the paper said.
Title: Re: Dozens die in nightclub fire in Santa Maria, Brazil
Post by: Leonardo on January 28, 2013, 02:00:38 pm
Why do you need to listen to your common sense when you can simply go around rules and get more money spending less? That's how they thought.

Now they should receive an examplary punition.

As it usually happens for tragedies of this level, this should at least start a campaign of security measures checks and/or improve the laws and regular checks on activities.

Note that this was also probably caused by corruption. The night club didn't have/shouldn't have had any permissions. Why were they still running then? Obviously someone had his interests to keep it open.

As the news say, the band whose fireworks were used during the show, used to play in a weekly basis in the club, using the same pyrotechnics and stuff. That was a fatality, but it's just plain stupid that something that can spare a flame so easily is even allowed INDOORS, specially when the soundproofing material was made of spume...

And yeah - the charter of the club was also outdated, which can be blamed on also, but it's not the main cause. It's what Jay said - things run like that in Brazil.

Much likely, the media will keep pressing on the same key, the government will mobilize a program to have a tougher supervision and that will last on for about 3 months. Then, everyone will forget about it.
Title: Re: Dozens die in nightclub fire in Santa Maria, Brazil
Post by: JayL on January 28, 2013, 02:02:12 pm
Why do you need to listen to your common sense when you can simply go around rules and get more money spending less? That's how they thought.

Yes.

Now they should receive an examplary punition.

Doubtfully. Only poor people get arrested in Brazil. The only medium-class/rich people who are sitting for longer than 1 year in prison are those whose punishment came out of social pressure. And even then, I don't think it'll be the same in this case.

As it usually happens for tragedies of this level, this should at least start a campaign of security measures checks and/or improve the laws and regular checks on activities.

According to authorities the current regulations did not permit such a show to take place. Use of fireworks is not permitted in large indoor gatherings.

Note that this was also probably caused by corruption. The night club didn't have/shouldn't have had any permissions. Why were they still running then? Obviously someone had his interests to keep it open.

It definitely was. The firefighter corps and the local government are already blaming each other for the lack of quality-checking... not to mention how absurdly easy it is to bribe your way into this sort of thing.
Title: Re: Dozens die in nightclub fire in Santa Maria, Brazil
Post by: Dolfagr on January 29, 2013, 03:09:45 am
I read that when the fire erupted people were not allowed to exit unless they have paid which caused many deaths and time wasting..
Title: Re: Dozens die in nightclub fire in Santa Maria, Brazil
Post by: JayL on January 29, 2013, 03:31:25 am
I read that when the fire erupted people were not allowed to exit unless they have paid which caused many deaths and time wasting..

The stage was on one side, and the exit was on the other. It takes a couple minutes until the security guards (in such a crowded place) can see the smoke. They saw a lot of people running around, screaming and shaking but they could not see what exactly was going on. They thought it was a mass fight or a petty fire which was under control. When they saw the big smoke pouring in they opened the doors, although by then all those 200 people lost their chance. The building did not have any sort of fire sirens or sprinklers.
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