MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency
Santa Maria tragedy: Three days of national mourning; Rousseff cuts short political summit in Chile
Brazil declared on Sunday three days of national mourning and flags at half mast following the tragedy in the southern university city of Santa Maria where at least 233 people were killed or trampled to death when a disco went on fire. Read full article
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Disclaimer & comment rulesWhat a terribe tragedy! My thoughts and prayers go to the victims and their families.
Jan 28th, 2013 - 06:02 am - Link - Report abuse 0Our sincere prayers and thoughts go out to the families of our neighbors to the north.
Jan 28th, 2013 - 06:05 am - Link - Report abuse 0Terrible, but why did they have so few exits? I often wonder about health and safety regulations when I hear about these nightclub fires.
Jan 28th, 2013 - 07:27 am - Link - Report abuse 0Condolences to the families of all these young people and the people of Brasil.
Jan 28th, 2013 - 08:42 am - Link - Report abuse 0A terrible thing to happen to so many young people and their families.
Jan 28th, 2013 - 09:20 am - Link - Report abuse 0It's a nightmare.
Jan 28th, 2013 - 09:51 am - Link - Report abuse 0All too predictable.
Jan 28th, 2013 - 11:17 am - Link - Report abuse 0Remember the one in Argentina last year, just the same attitude by the owners: they need to stop and or remove freeloaders to maximise profits and don’t care if the exits are locked or difficult to get to.
Until that changes there will be more of these tragedies. Same the world over, unfortunately.
An unimaginable tragedy for the families of these students cut down in the prime of their lives.
Jan 28th, 2013 - 11:53 am - Link - Report abuse 0My thoughts are with all my Brazilian friends as their nation copes with this.
A 1,000 person nightclub containing 2,000 revellers.
Jan 28th, 2013 - 01:39 pm - Link - Report abuse 0A fire safety certificate that expired last summer.
Only one entrance and exit to the entire building.
Let's set off some fireworks - there's a plan.
@3. I doubt it would make much if a difference. Pardon my fatalism but nightclubs are typically already dark when fires break out. When an emergency comes and even with a “sufficient” number of “clearly marked” exists and darned good bouncers most people are going to be turned around so many times in panic or simply from dancing they won't find them before they're clogged. These tragedies happen in plenty of countries including the US and other “northern” countries and the only “safe” solution is to party outside, the hazard is hard wired into the disco/nightclub by its very nature. :-/
Jan 28th, 2013 - 02:17 pm - Link - Report abuse 0lessons must be learned!
Jan 28th, 2013 - 02:22 pm - Link - Report abuse 0http://edition.cnn.com/2013/01/27/world/americas/nightclub-fires/index.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+rss%2Fcnn_topstories+%28RSS%3A+Top+Stories%29
My God how did this happen?
Jan 28th, 2013 - 04:09 pm - Link - Report abuse 0I have a suggestion,the Brazilian students union should inspect every club students use,picket any club that doe,nt meet USA licensing standards(no I dont think Yankees are any better than Brazillians,but they have had there own tragedies and have learned valuable lessons,it is useless to rely on corrupt politicians,licensing officials,police ect.EMPOWER YOURSELVES
A sad, sad day.
Jan 28th, 2013 - 04:49 pm - Link - Report abuse 0Students will aggregate in clubs, and Brasilian students like to aggregate in larger numbers, packing close for exhuberance unknown in the UK, US, etc.
Questions will be asked, flammability and fireworks will be discussed, and people will be found guilty. But young people will always seek the 'uncontrolled' and 'edgy'.
The whole New Year coastline of my region of Bahia, and its baraccas (beachfront bars/'restaurants') with rock-band enclosures, had to be closed down for public safety a couple of years ago.
Hundreds of thousands of youngsters - and many of us not-so-young - migrated to our beaches for the celebrations ..... OK on a low tide with moonlight on the wide beach and reef, but a death trap when a new year co-incided with a pich-black high tide, squeezing in the mass of humanity into an ever-tightening strip of surfing-beach sand.
Luckily the authorities realised there was a disaster in the making and closed down all the coastal bars. It was sufficient, and we avoided the tide washing in hundreds of bodies of white-clad revellers.
Accidents happen, and more frequently where controls are less stringent.
My commiserations to the Santa Maria young people and their families.
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