Relatives and friends of one of the victims of the Kiss nightclub fire gather during the funeral at Santa Rita Cemetery in Santa Maria, Brazil, on Monday, January 28. More than 230 people died and more than 120 were injured early Sunday when a fire tore through the nightclub packed with university students in southern Brazil, police said.
Firefighters stand at the burnt-out entrance of the Kiss night club on Sunday, January 27 in Santa Maria, Brazil.
Relatives wait to identify victims at the municipal gymnasium in Santa Maria on January 27.
Relatives of victims weep during a funeral in Santa Maria on January 27.
Relatives pray at the wake of a victim on January 27 in Santa Maria.
Relatives of a victim of a fire that broke out at the Kiss nightclub weep during the funeral in Santa Maria, Brazil, on Sunday, January 27.
A woman weeps on a coffin as relatives of the nightclub fire victims identify bodies.
People console each other during a collective wake for the victims of the nightclub fire.
A coffin decorated with a photograph and image of the Virgin Mary is surrounded by mourners.
Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff, right, consoles relatives of victims of the fire.
Emergency personnel gather outside the burned-out Kiss nightclub in Santa Maria, Brazil. The nightclub is popular with young people, drawing between 2,000 and 3,000 people a night on the weekends.
A firefighter, center, carries a victim away from the blaze.
Residents look on as bodies of victims are transferred from the site of the fire to a municipal sports center.
People cry after a getting news about the deadly fire.
Firefighters work to extinguish the blaze that broke early Sunday.
Victims were dragged out of the nightclub and received preliminary medical treatment on the ground.
Firefighters, onlookers and police gather outside the burned-out club.
A grieving woman talks on her cell phone after the fire.
- NEW: Investigators are searching for a fourth person
- Three are detained as part of an investigation into blaze that killed 231
- They will be held for five days, state-run Agencia Brasil reports
Are you there? Share your story.
(CNN) -- Police arrested three people and were searching Monday for a fourth in connection with the nightclub fire that killed 231 people in southern Brazil, state media reported.
The detainees will be held initially for five days while authorities investigate Sunday's blaze in the Kiss nightclub in Santa Maria, Marcos Viana, a police official told state-run Agencia Brasil. The five-day period can be extended for five more days, the news agency said.
Brazil nightclub fire: 'Like a war zone' with bodies piled
"We concluded that it was necessary to hold them prisoner temporarily, because we need their statements to help us clarify the incident," Viana said, according to Agencia Brasil.
Police did not identify those arrested.
Anger, grief following fatal club fire
Brazil club fire echoes 2003 R.I. fire
Deadly horror at Brazilian club
What caused the Brazil club fire?
"We have much work ahead to clarify what happened and identify those responsible," Viana said, according to the news agency.
Civil police in Santa Maria have questioned 20 other people, it said.
Photos: Hundreds dead in Brazil nightclub fire
More than 100 clubgoers were injured in the fire, which authorities say began about 2:30 a.m. Sunday when a band's pyrotechnic show ignited insulation material.
Many apparently died from smoke inhalation; others were trampled in the rush for the exits.
The nightclub owners have pledged to cooperate with the investigation, according to a statement released by the law firm of Kummel & Kummel.
"We are open to all authorities and inspections," said the statement, obtained by Globo TV.
Read more: How to protect yourself in a crowd
The club's license had expired in August and had not been renewed, a local fire official told Globo TV.
The owners, however, said the nightclub was properly permitted and had been inspected by the fire marshal.
The city's mayor, Cezar Schirmer, said the fire department "has always done a very strict surveillance on the homes of shows and dealt with all other issues that relate to security of these places."
Opinion: We haven't learned from past mistakes
On Monday, the first of Brazil's three days of mourning, flowers were left outside the club in tribute to the victims, and a flag outside the country's presidential palace flew at half-staff.
In Santa Maria, mourners lined up in a series of funeral processions and coffins were lined up in a gymnasium that authorities had turned into a morgue.
Deadly blazes: Nightclub tragedies in recent history
By noon, 40 of 110 funerals planned for the day had already been held at the city's municipal cemetery, its chief of staff told CNN affiliate Band News.
At one funeral, air force troops fired rifles in tribute to a comrade who died in Sunday's fire.
At another, two teenage brothers, the only children in one family, were buried side by side.
Of the people who were hurt, 82 were still in area hospitals; 40 were taken four hours east to the city Porto Alegre, BandNews TV reported.
The governor of Rio de Janeiro sent 15 mechanical ventilators, Agencia Brasil reported.
CNN's Tom Watkins, Shasta Darlington and Chelsea J. Carter contributed to this report.
留言列表
留言列表
