Simply horrific news out of Santa Maria, Brazil, where pyrotechnics are blamed for a night club fire that left at least 232 people, mostly college students, dead. Most of the deaths are reportedly from smoke inhalation as as many as 2,000 panicked patrons tried to escape.
From USA Today:
The facility was hosting an event for a local university. Most of the
attendees were students of that school, the Federal University of Santa
Maria.Television images showed smoke pouring out of the
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."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," survivor Luana Santos Silva told the Globo TV
network.
According to CNN's report, the club was an estimated 1,000 people over capacity.
