Municipal Security Negligence

The death toll from Sunday morning's nightclub fire in southern Brazil now stands at 233. Brazilian police have arrested three people, while families and friends mourn the deaths of hundreds of young university students in Santa Maria, a city of several hundred thousand people. "There was so much smoke and fire, it was complete panic, and it took a long time for people to get out, there were so many dead", explained one shocked survivor.




Young men who had attended a university party struggled alongside firefighters using axes and sledgehammers to pound windows and walls in an effort to free those who were trapped inside the Kiss nightclub. Firefighters were unable to gain entry to the club because "there was a barrier of bodies blocking the entrance". And the fire spread so swiftly that firefighters were unable to halt its fiery ravages.

"The band that was onstage 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", explained Michele Pereira who had been close to the stage when band members of Furizada Fandangueira lit their flares at 2:15 a.m.



"...we had played around five songs when I looked up and noticed the roof was burning It might have happened because of the Sputnik, the machine we use to create a luminous effect, with sparks. It's harmless, we never had any trouble with it. When the fire started, a guard passed us a fire extinguisher, the singer tried to use it but it wasn't working", described guitarist Rodrigo Martins.

"Most of the 117 people treated in hospitals had been poisoned by breathing in gases during the fire. Most of the dead were asphyxiated, "Large amounts of toxic smoke quickly filled the room, and I would say that at least 90% of the victims died of asphyxiation", said Dr. Paulo Afonso Beltrame, of the Federal University of Santa Maria, who attended the city's Caridade Hospital to assist.

Previously, in other venues in other countries the use of flares and other types of explosives meant for colour and drama have been implicated in causing fires in crowded dance venues claiming countless victims. Is it too unreasonable to expect that this type of thing would be universally disallowed? This nightclub had only one exit, and it was difficult to find. The venue is capable of hosting two thousand people, with one exit.

There are suggestions that bodyguards detained people attempting to flee because they had not yet paid their bills. Obviously, municipal regulations setting out safety criteria for such events are either non-existent or ignored. How a large nightclub with inadequate ingress and egress could be permitted to function without meeting adequate safety guidelines is certainly something local authorities will have to be responsible for.