Arrests Made in Brazil's Deadly Nightclub Fire

Police in Brazil say three people have been arrested in connection to a nightclub fire that killed more than 230 people early Sunday.

Local reports say one of the owners of the club and two members of the band that was playing that night were arrested.


Map: Santa Maria, BrazilxMap: Santa Maria, Brazil
​​The fire quickly swept through the nightclub in Santa Maria, in the far south of the country, trapping people in the crowded venue.  More than 100 people were injured.

Officials say the club was filled with university students when the blaze broke out.  Survivors say a band member launched a pyrotechnic toward the ceiling, triggering the fire that engulfed the building.

Many of the victims were suffocated or trampled as panicked revelers pushed and shoved to escape the building through what survivors say was the only


Family members have begun the grim task of burying their loved ones. As the country mourns, Brazil canceled an event scheduled for Monday in the capital, Brasilia, marking the 500-day countdown to its hosting of the 2014 World Cup.

The disaster comes at a time Brazil is trying to show the rest of the world it is prepared to host the World Cup next year, and the Olympics in 2016. Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff cut short a visit to Chile early Sunday to return home.

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon says he is saddened to learn about the tragedy and is especially moved that so many young people and students were killed.  He says he sends his condolences to their families.

Santa Maria is a major university city with a population of about 250,000, located near the borders with Argentina and Uruguay.

The fire is among the deadliest in a nightclub.  A blaze in China in 2000 killed 309 people and one in Argentina in 2004 killed 194.

fuente: La Voz de América,
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