Jan. 27 Photo Brief: Deadly night in a club in Brazil, Indonesian Zombie Club, Pigs Carvers Festival, 68th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz
Nightclub fire kills 245 in Brazil, Indonesian Zombie Club, Pigs Carvers Festival, 68th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz and more in today’s daily brief.
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- A freshly cut pig head is pictured during the Pigs Carvers Festival in the Transcarpathian village of Gecha, some 800 km from the capital Kiev on January 26, 2013. Some 26 teams of butchers from Ukraine, Hungary and Serbia, the countries who cultivate pig-breeding, took part in this traditional competition. Each team has to kill a pig, butcher the carcass and prepare a variety of dishes made from the pork. (Olexander Zobin/AFP/Getty Images)
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- A member of the Indonesian Zombie Club (IZOC) dressed up as a zombie smiles before taking part in a march in Jakarta on January 27, 2013. Hundreds of members of the club took part in a rally intended to raise awareness of cleanness and collected donations for Jakarta residents affected by recent floods. (Adek Berry/AFP/Getty Images)
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- A Persian chinchilla cat is examined by a judge during the Athens 21st International Cat Show January 27, 2013. (John Kolesidis/Reuters)
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- Camels ridden by robot jockeys compete during a weekly camel race at the Kuwait Camel Racing club in Kebd January 26, 2013. The robots are controlled by trainers, who follow in their vehicles around the track. (Stephanie McGehee/Reuters)
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- Indian soldiers march down the ceremonial boulevard Rajpath during the Republic Day parade in New Delhi on January 26, 2013. India marked its Republic Day with celebrations held under heavy security, especially in New Delhi where large areas were sealed off for an annual parade of military hardware at which Bhutan’s king Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck was chief guest. (Raveen Dran/AFP/Getty Images)
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- Indian policemen perform a stunt on a motorcycle during the Republic Day parade in Jammu January 26, 2013. India celebrated its 64th Republic Day on Saturday. (Mukesh Gupta/Reuters)
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- A reveller participates in the annual block party known as the “Banda de Ipanema”, during pre-carnival festivities in Rio de Janeiro, January 26, 2013. (Pilar Olivares/Reuters)
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- A policeman and rescue workers help a man in front of Kiss nightclub in the southern city of Santa Maria, 187 miles west of the state capital of Porto Alegre, in this picture taken by Agencia RBS, January 27, 2013. At least 200 people were killed in the nightclub fire in southern Brazil on Sunday after a band’s pyrotechnics show set the building ablaze, and fleeing patrons were unable to find the emergency exits, local officials said. (Germano Roratto/Agencia RBS via Reuters)
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- Recaptured crocodiles lie in pens after about 15,000 of the animals escaped from a crocodile farm during flooding near Mussina, on South Africa’s nothern border with Zimbabwe, January 26, 2013. (Mike Hutchings/Reuters)
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- A Malian soldier stands near a wall with bullet holes in the recently liberated town of Konna January 26, 2013. (Eric Gaillard/Reuters)
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- Military enthusiasts take part in a re-enactment of a World War Two landing to mark its 69th anniversary in Anzio, near Rome, January 26, 2013. (Tony Gentile/Reuters)
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- A rose hangs near the “Death Wall” at the Auschwitz concentration camp during a ceremony marking the 68th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz by Soviet troops, and to remember the victims of the Holocaust, in Auschwitz-Birkenau January 27, 2013. (Peter Andrews/Reuters)
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- A charred body believed to be an Islamist rebel burnt by inhabitants of Konna, according to local residents, is seen in the recently liberated town of Konna January 27, 2013. (Eric Gaillard/reuters)
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- A passenger wearing a panda costume shows her ticket to a staff member as she enters the Beijing Railway Station January 26, 2013. A group of four people, including one wearing a panda costume, are experiencing the Spring Festival peak travel period in this special way as they plan to take a train to Cangzhou of Hebei province and then come back. The 2013 Spring Festival travel peak period began on Saturday and will last till March 6. According to the Ministry of Transport, over 3.1 billion people are expected to travel via road or waterways during this period, a year-on-year increase of 4 percent, local media reported. Picture taken January 26, 2013. (Kevin Zhao/Reuters)
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- Hindu devotee Vela Nagalingam performs in a trance during a pilgrimage to the sacred Batu Caves Temple during Thaipusam festival in Batu Caves outside Kuala Lumpur January 27, 2013. Thaipusam, the festival of penance honouring Lord Murugan, originated from Southern India and introduced to Malaysia in the 19th century by Indian immigrants, is no longer celebrated in India. However in Malaysia the festival has gone beyond the ethnic Indian community which comprises of over eight percent of the 28 million population. (Bazuki Muhammad/Reuters)
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- A Hindu devotee gets in a trance before he starts his pilgrimage to the sacred Batu Caves Temple during Thaipusam festival in Batu Caves outside Kuala Lumpur January 27, 2013. Thaipusam, the festival of penance honouring Lord Murugan, originated from Southern India and introduced to Malaysia in the 19th century by Indian immigrants, is no longer celebrated in India. However in Malaysia the festival has gone beyond the ethnic Indian community which comprises of over eight percent of the 28 million population. (Samsul Said/Reuters)
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- Skaters dressed in traditional Dutch costumes skate on the canal in Hindeloopen January 26, 2013. When the canals and lakes freeze, the Dutch get out their skates and venture out on the ice. In Friesland, skaters dressed in traditional costumes gather for a day of ice skating, pole-sledding, and other entertainment on ice. The skaters wear an old-fashioned form of skate with special blades to help them glide across the ice without tiring, and usually skate together in couples or groups; this type of skating can be seen in many old Dutch paintings and is particularly popular with older people. (Michael Kooren/Reuters)
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- Tennis fans watch the men’s singles final match between Andy Murray of Britain (L) and Novak Djokovic of Serbia at the Australian Open tennis tournament in Melbourne, January 27, 2013. (Navesh Chitrakar/Reuters)
Nightclub fire kills 245 in southern Brazil
Ana Flor | Reuters
10:06 a.m. EST, January 27, 2013
PORTO ALEGRE, Brazil (Reuters) – A fire in a nightclub killed at least 245 people in southern Brazil on Sunday when a band’s pyrotechnics show set the building ablaze and fleeing patrons were unable to find the emergency exits in the ensuing panic, officials said.
The blaze in the southern city of Santa Maria was started when a band member or someone from its production team ignited a flare, which then set fire to the ceiling, said Luiza Sousa, a civil police official. The fire spread “in seconds,” she said.
An estimated 500 people were in the Boate Kiss nightclub when the fire broke out early on Sunday, and many were unable to find the exits as dark smoke quickly filled the room. At least one exit was locked, trapping hundreds inside to die, many from asphyxiation as they inhaled smoke, police said.
“When I looked around, all I saw were dead bodies all around, lying on the floor. It was macabre,” survivor Taynne Vendrusculo told GloboNews TV. “It all happened so fast. Both the panic and the fire spread rapidly, in seconds.”
Television footage showed people sobbing outside the club, while shirtless firefighters used sledge hammers and axes to knock down an exterior wall to open up an exit.
By noon (1400 GMT), the death toll had risen to 245 and 48 people were being treated in local hospitals, said Major Cleberson Bastianello, head of the military police unit leading the rescue efforts. He said all of the bodies of the victims had been removed from the nightclub.
President Dilma Rousseff, who started her political career in the same state where the fire happened, cut short a visit to Chile to return to Brazil to visit the scene. Before departing, Rousseff gave a televised statement in which she broke out in tears as she pledged government help for the victims and their families.
“We are trying to mobilize all possible resources to help in the rescue efforts,” she said. “All I can say at the moment is that my feelings are of deep sorrow.”
The disaster recalls other incidents including a 2003 fire at a nightclub in West Warwick, Rhode Island, that killed 100, and a Buenos Aires nightclub blaze in 2004 that killed nearly 200. In both incidents, a band or members of the audience ignited fires that set the establishment ablaze.
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