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Firework blaze in Russian nightclub kills 102
Source: Agencies |
December 5, 2009, Saturday
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A BLAZE sparked by an indoor firework show ripped through a crowded Russian nightclub, killing at least 102 and injuring 134 as revelers stampeded for the exits, the Emergencies Ministry said.
The firework show went disastrously wrong at about 11:15 pm (2015 GMT) yesterday, filling the Lame Horse nightclub in the city of Perm, 1,150 km (720 miles) east of Moscow, with toxic smoke and sowing panic among clubbers.
"We have registered 102 dead and 134 injured," Igor Orlov, security minister of the Perm Region, told Russia's Vesti-24 television today. Seventy-nine are in a serious condition.
Perm Emergencies Minister Oleg Popov said 21 people were in a critical condition, having suffered from smoke intoxication, head injuries and inhalation burns. Russian television said the first group of the injured had been sent to Moscow by plane.
A witness said dozens of charred bodies were piled on the pavement outside the club as medics moved the injured into ambulances. Blood-covered women in evening clothes lay on stretchers as scores of policemen swarmed around.
Video footage featured a merry crowd celebrating the club's eighth anniversary, with a show presenter announcing all of a sudden: "Ladies and gentlemen, we are on fire. Leave the hall. Line up in a queue (to exit)."
Then the camera moved to show fire spreading fast along the ceiling covered in reeds. Many revelers slowly moved to a narrow exit -- some still sipping cocktails and smoking.
A few moments later, a stampede broke out as heavy smoke quickly filled the hall and the crowd rushed headlong, trying to escape through narrow doors.
Motionless bodies covered in soot and blood -- some half-dressed -- lay scattered around on the snow-covered pavement outside the club.
A stray firework sparked the fire, officials said. Wicker coverings on the walls of the club burst into flames, prompting panic. More than 200 people were in the club at the time.
The firework show went disastrously wrong at about 11:15 pm (2015 GMT) yesterday, filling the Lame Horse nightclub in the city of Perm, 1,150 km (720 miles) east of Moscow, with toxic smoke and sowing panic among clubbers.
"We have registered 102 dead and 134 injured," Igor Orlov, security minister of the Perm Region, told Russia's Vesti-24 television today. Seventy-nine are in a serious condition.
Perm Emergencies Minister Oleg Popov said 21 people were in a critical condition, having suffered from smoke intoxication, head injuries and inhalation burns. Russian television said the first group of the injured had been sent to Moscow by plane.
A witness said dozens of charred bodies were piled on the pavement outside the club as medics moved the injured into ambulances. Blood-covered women in evening clothes lay on stretchers as scores of policemen swarmed around.
Video footage featured a merry crowd celebrating the club's eighth anniversary, with a show presenter announcing all of a sudden: "Ladies and gentlemen, we are on fire. Leave the hall. Line up in a queue (to exit)."
Then the camera moved to show fire spreading fast along the ceiling covered in reeds. Many revelers slowly moved to a narrow exit -- some still sipping cocktails and smoking.
A few moments later, a stampede broke out as heavy smoke quickly filled the hall and the crowd rushed headlong, trying to escape through narrow doors.
Motionless bodies covered in soot and blood -- some half-dressed -- lay scattered around on the snow-covered pavement outside the club.
A stray firework sparked the fire, officials said. Wicker coverings on the walls of the club burst into flames, prompting panic. More than 200 people were in the club at the time.
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