Nightclub Fire In Brazil

BAMSOLA

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Very shocking.

I have no idea why in door pyrotechnics are allowed in any club anywhere in the world.

We teach kids not to use fireworks indoors and here are adults effectively doing the same.

Pretty sure something like this happened in America a couple of years ago. My thoughts are with the families.
 

Arruda

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This is insane. Someone was posting RIP's on facebook to "Santa Maria" tragedy. A bus had an accident and killed 11 people here. It was heading to a location called Santa Maria da Feira. I though it was about that.

This is just too much. My mother is in vacations there, probably not a very pleasant environment at the moment.
 

VeevaVee

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Horrible. I don't even think nightclubs over here have adequate fire exits when you think about it.
 

MichaelS

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I saw on some news channel that the doormen locked some off the doors because they were afraid people would leave without paying. That went well.
 

MichaelS

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Just saw it repeated on CNN. Security guards blocked the entrances to prevent people from leaving(don't know why).
 

Arruda

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Surely you pay to get in, not out
A lot of nightclubs use a system on which the drinks you consume are written in a card and you pay at the exit. You can't leave without presenting that card.

That said, I don't want to believe that's what happened here.
 

utdalltheway

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Happens too often. They tend to lock the exit doors so kids dont use them to get in free. At least that's supposedly what happened at the Stardust in Dublin years ago, and in Manila in the mid 90s.... The list goes on.
 

Arruda

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Oh I don't doubt there was some serious negligence. I just don't think in a situation of panic they would consciously try to make people pay. The mistakes were probably made during the organization of the event.

Incredible that a place supposed to take so many people doesn't have functional emergency exits. Also heard that their licence might have expired in August.
 

kps88

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Overcrowding and limited exits are serious problems night clubs face in a lot of countries. Most of them are death traps.
 

Arruda

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Indeed I read reports from the first persons who managed to get out. It's true that the doormen didn't want to let them leave, as they were still unaware of the situation, but they were very quickly overwhelmed by the crowd. Surely that wasn't the cause of the tragedy.

Biggest problem beyond the likely overcrowding, was lack of emergency doors and the others not being properly signed. A lot of people died asphyxiated or trampled in the bathrooms as they seeked refuge there due to being unable to locate the exits.
 

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feck, that's so messed up. RIP to the deceased. A few years ago we had a similar incident in SA and club owners were forced to have more than one exit. But the problem is that such action is always reactive, seldom proactive.
 

Dargonk

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Hard to imagine that many being killed at once in an incidence like this. Sad situation
 

Danillaco

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Just saw it repeated on CNN. Security guards blocked the entrances to prevent people from leaving(don't know why).
Well, to be fair, with the design of the club the securities couldn't see what was happening. The flames went too fast (some people talked about 3 minutes for the flames to engulf the whole ceiling. In most clubs in Brazil, you pay your consume in the end, not as you get the drink/beer.

The worst thing for me, beside the lack of proper license since august and the obvious stupidity of having fireworks in a small club with highly inflammable anti-sound foam, was the lack of signs pointing to the exit. Oh, and there was almost over 500 more than the capacity of the club.

The main concentration of bodies was near the bathrooms, where people saw a door and went in, but was not the exit but the WC. Then got asfixiated. Most of them died this way, not by the fire.

Most of the survivors were men who were strong enough to fight their way out. It was pure hell.

I have one friend that passed away there, we went to school together, but didn't know he was there, recognized the name from the official death list.

People here are in shock, and hopefully in the country where criminals hardly get punished, some justice is served.
 

Danillaco

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Oh I don't doubt there was some serious negligence. I just don't think in a situation of panic they would consciously try to make people pay. The mistakes were probably made during the organization of the event.

Incredible that a place supposed to take so many people doesn't have functional emergency exits. Also heard that their licence might have expired in August.
There were a series of mistakes. License overdue was the least of it. The foam that makes the club soundproof didn't have the coal that made it nonflammable because it was too expensive. There were no signs pointing to the exit. No emergency exit, only one door, no evacuation plan.

Too much sadness, most of the people there were young people in college, since the city revolves around the University. shocking.
 

Sir Matt

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In the US, at least at most bars I've ever been to, you pay cash at the time you order or you leave your credit card and open a tab. That way if you have a tab running, you can't leave without leaving your credit card. To get it back. you have to close it. I'm not sure how prevalent credit cards are in the rest of the world though.

How exactly does that work at bars in Brazil?

Hopefully it will lead Brazilian governments to make serious attempts at enforcement and development of building regulations. It's just depressing that something like this had to happen to push it.

Condolences to you and your friend's family. :(
 

Baxter

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Read that there are four people being held over this.
 

Danillaco

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Read that there are four people being held over this.
Yes, apparently two of the owners (and one is fecked, since he didn't managed the club, only invested in it), the singer that lighted the firework that generated the tragedy, and one security guard. For me, the least culpable in all this is the security.
 

The Black Pearl

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My other half is from Brazil (Londrina) and having been there several times now I have to say I wasn't really that surprised that a terrible and sad incident like this happened and in a nightclub too. From what I can see when it comes to enforcing regulations especially when it comes to health and safety Brazil as a whole doesn't really care and when it comes to enforcing the law and seeing proper justice served its a complete and utter joke. All you need in Brazil is money and your sorted as you can buy your way out of almost anything including murder. May those that shouldn't have died RIP now.
 

MichaelS

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I can't see how the people who did the pyrotechnics if they survived would be able to live with themselves. Even though it was all unintentional, being the cause of over 200 hundred innocent people dying must so so devasting.
 

Danillaco

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My other half is from Brazil (Londrina) and having been there several times now I have to say I wasn't really that surprised that a terrible and sad incident like this happened and in a nightclub too. From what I can see when it comes to enforcing regulations especially when it comes to health and safety Brazil as a whole doesn't really care and when it comes to enforcing the law and seeing proper justice served its a complete and utter joke. All you need in Brazil is money and your sorted as you can buy your way out of almost anything including murder. May those that shouldn't have died RIP now.
That is true, and works like in almost everywhere in Brazil. Regulators try to cover things creating laws and short term measures, but after a couple weeks everybody forgets and things get back to un(usual).

One more tragedy, and sadly soon people forget, and the corrupt government continues doing feck all.