VENEZUELA: A fire ripped through a packed basement nightclub in downtown Caracas early yesterday, killing 47 people, most of them suffocated by smoke in what was one of the deadliest blazes in Venezuela's recent history.
Witnesses described scenes of panic as several hundred revellers stampeded for the exit trying to escape choking clouds of toxic smoke, which filled the Goajira nightclub in a seedy, run-down area just blocks from the presidential palace.
Eight people were hospitalised with burns and around 20 were treated for smoke inhalation.
"They were climbing all over each other to get out. The flames were amazing. They were carrying out bodies all night," Rafael Chacon (19), a student who lives opposite the club, said.
The fire occurred a day before political opponents of President Hugo Chavez were set to stage a general strike to pressure the leftist leader to hold an early referendum on his rule in the world's fifth-largest oil exporter.
"Unfortunately, we have 47 victims dead," Caracas fire chief Mr Rodolfo Briceno told reporters. Of those who died, 32 were men and 15 women.
He said it was too early to say what caused the blaze.
Some witnesses said the fire broke out after a fight between patrons over a woman inside the bar.
Firefighters lined up bodies on stretchers, before piling them into the back of jeeps. Many of the victims wore only underclothes and many appeared unmarked by burns. - (Reuters)