ARGENTINA: Argentina rang in the New Year on a grim note as families identified and began burying 177 victims of a fire in a Buenos Aires rock club, including children and babies who may have perished in a makeshift nursery in the bathroom.
New Year celebrations were muted on Saturday as the government began handing over bodies to families with the order that they be buried, not cremated, due to the criminal investigation into one of Argentina's worst disasters.
The blaze during a concert on Thursday night started when concert-goers launched a flare that ignited foam on the ceiling. The fire sent 4,000 mostly teenage fans scrambling for the exits amid falling debris and thick smoke.
Four of the six doors were locked, officials said.
The city's medical emergency service raised the death toll by three to 177 at nightfall on Saturday, and said 726 people had been treated in hospitals, mostly for smoke inhalation.
Forty-five people were still in intensive care in public hospitals.
Police detained the owner of the Cromagnon Republic club on Friday, and sought his three partners to question them about overcrowding, the use of flammable materials and locking the exit doors to stop people from entering without paying. The club had a permit for 1,100 spectators.
Officials are also looking into witness statements that the club had a nursery in the women's bathroom where parents could leave children while they attended the concert.
"How could they permit such a thing?" Mr Marcelo Calderon asked as he waited outside the morgue for the bodies of his brother and nephew.
Police said witnesses have also helped them identify three youths who might have launched the flare.
It was not known if they were among the victims.