CNN: A fire in a crowded Buenos Aires nightclub has killed 88 people

[arcos]

No link yet, it's in the red banner on top of their mainpage. www.cnn.com

[rawstory]

1. link at raw story

http://rawstory.com - 260 wounded.

[Goldeneye]

2. What is going on?

What is the last piece of good news we had?

[NYC]

4. Good news?

Name one. Seriously, I can't think of one.

[Goldeneye]

8. me neither...thats why i asked...

[NYC]

10. Not even a hint of one?

I can't think of anything. I don't even really try because I think it would be like beating my head against a brick wall -- but even less productive.

[Goldeneye]

11. here ...there's always this

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x215105

[NYC]

12. Yes, thank you.

:hi: :party:

I had just read that. There's always hope. :)

[NYC]

3. Nothing clickable.

That happened in the Bronx several years ago. I think 87 dead. The fire was arson but the people couldn't escape because of fire violations. I distinctly remember that the landlord's wife was Kathleen Turner, the actress. I never heard anything so heartless as her response when she was interviewed.

[RamboLiberal]

5. And remember the 100 dead in The Station fire in RI

2 years ago. The one started by the pyrotechnics of the band. I still remember the videos of people stacked in the doorway desparately trying to escape.

[NYC]

6. I saw the video of that fire spreading.

I don't see fire as a toy or an amusement. I don't find it amusing that people use it as part of a show. I hope people have given up that type of spectacular display. It is totally unnecessary. Yes, people were stacked by the door. Very sad.

[LeighAnn]

15. Yep I still think about it every day

I even made a pilgrimage to Rhode Island last summer, but I couldn't find a way to get to the site.

Horrible horrible horrible

[NorthernSpy]

17. the Station fire made a big impression on everyone in New England...

... and other places, too, I'm sure.

Every since that happened, I've made a habit of taking note of exits in all the buildings I enter.

Especially if you stay in a hotel: know how many doors away -- and in which direction -- your room is from the stairwell, so that you can find the stairs in the dark if you have to. Get low and stay low: the air is far cooler and less smokey/ more oxygen-rich near the floor. Always feel a door before opening it: a hot doorknob means that there are probably flames on the other side. Leave by the nearest exit -- not necessarily by the front door or the entrance you're accustomed to using, unless that happens to be both closest and unobstructed. Never ignore a fire alarm.

Call me hypervigilant, but that info has been re-echoing in my mind ever since the news of the Station fire. :think:

[Chico Man]

22. Yes, I have a good friend who miraculously escaped the station fire

Spent a lot of time in the hospital and is still recovering from damaging burns to both arms.

[shadowknows69]

7. this tragedy happens too much n/t

[Cobalt Violet]

9. 134 dead

http://www.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/americas/12/31/argentina.fire/index.html

[latteromden]

13. 169 dead, 375 injured

I don't know how many more rising death tolls I can take...

[latteromden]

14. Just to keep updated: 174 dead, 410 injured (n/t)

[Judi Lynn]

16. Updated article. Still at 174. Hope the worst is over now for them.

Fire Kills at Least 174, Injures Hundreds During Rock Concert in Buenos Aires Nightclub

By Kevin Gray
ASSOCIATED PRESS
11:36 p.m. December 30, 2004

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina – A fire swept through a crowded Buenos Aires nightclub during a rock concert, killing at least 174 people and injuring more than 410 as young concert-goers scrambled for the exits, officials said Friday.

The blaze broke out late Thursday and the building in the Argentine capital quickly filled with smoke, setting off a stampede for the emergency exits, witnesses said. Television images showed the bodies of youngsters curled up on the sidewalk as bystanders and shirtless teenagers carried people out of the smoldering building.

"People were pushing and jumping over each other trying to get out," one concert-goer, Jose Maria Godoy, told The Associated Press. "It was like a human wave. As people fell down running for the door, others just simply ran over them or pushed them down."

City officials said it wasn't immediately clear what caused the fire, but several witnesses said they saw a flare hit a foam lining on the roof of the concert hall, triggering a fire.

"Someone from the crowd tossed a flare and there were immediately flames," said Fabian Zamudeo, a 22-year-old in the crowd to see the Argentine rock band, Los Callejeros.
(snip/...)

http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/world/20041230-2336-argentina-nightclubfire.html

Out of curiosity, looked for a photo of the band, Los Callejeros.

[NorthernSpy]

18. Foam! It was that goddamn FOAM again?

City officials said it wasn't immediately clear what caused the fire, but several witnesses said they saw a flare hit a foam lining on the roof of the concert hall, triggering a fire.

"Someone from the crowd tossed a flare and there were immediately flames," said Fabian Zamudeo, a 22-year-old in the crowd to see the Argentine rock band, Los Callejeros.

Just like in the Station fire! It was polyurethane foam that was being used for soundproofing. A pyrotechnical display set it off.

Yeah -- nice, cushy "foam rubber". That crap is like solid gasoline, and it burns like crazy.

This is horrible.

:cry:

[maddezmom]

19. updated link: Buenos Aires Club Fire Kills 175, Injures 619

By Mary Milliken

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (Reuters) - A fire tore through a Buenos Aires nightclub packed with young revelers celebrating the New Year holidays, killing at least 175 people as a stampeding crowd was trapped by locked exit doors, officials said Friday.


Reuters Photo


AFP
Slideshow: Buenos Aires Nightclub Fire




At least 619 people were injured in the blaze, thought to have been caused by a flare fired into the club's ceiling during a rock concert, sending burning debris onto the crowd of up to 4,000 people who desperately fought to flee the flames and suffocating smoke.


"The fire spread in a minute and we were a mountain of people trying to escape," said survivor Ariel Monges, 25, who lost a friend and a cousin in the fire and was searching for another friend at a city hospital.


The blaze, which officials called one of Argentina's worst disasters, may have claimed more victims because four of the club's six doors were tied shut with wire, according to Interior Minister Anibal Fernandez.

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=574&ncid=721&e=3&u=/nm/20041231/wl_nm/argentina_fire_dc

[NorthernSpy]

20. they LOCKED the fire exits?

How can anyone do a thing like that? What -- there's not enough danger in life already?

Someone needs to PAY for that decision!

[pinerow]

21. If that had happened in China...owners would get a fair trial, then they

would be shot...:wtf: