Brazil has canceled an event launching the 500-day countdown to its hosting of the 2014 World Cup because of a devastating fire in southern Brazil that killed 232 people and injured more than 100. The event was scheduled to be held Monday in the capital, Brasilia. Brazilian officials say the fire Sunday swept through a nightclub crowded with university students in the city of Santa Maria.
Authorities said the fire broke out early Sunday at a club called Kiss. Survivors say a band member lit a flare or firework and launched it toward the ceiling.
Many of the victims were suffocated or trampled as panicked revelers pushed and shoved to escape the building through what survivors say was the only unlocked exit.
The disaster comes at a time Brazil is trying to show the rest of the world it is prepared to host the World Cup next year, and the Olympics in 2016.
Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff cut short a visit to Chile early Sunday to return home following the fire.
U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon says he is saddened to learn about the tragedy and is especially moved that so many young people and students were killed. He says he sends his condolences to their families.
Santa Maria is a major university city with a population of about 250,000. The city is on the southern tip of Brazil near the borders with Argentina and Uruguay.
The fire is among the deadliest ever in a nightclub. A blaze in China in 2000 killed 309 people and one in 2004 in Buenos Aires killed 194.
Some information for this report was provided by AP and AFP.
Authorities said the fire broke out early Sunday at a club called Kiss. Survivors say a band member lit a flare or firework and launched it toward the ceiling.
Many of the victims were suffocated or trampled as panicked revelers pushed and shoved to escape the building through what survivors say was the only unlocked exit.
The disaster comes at a time Brazil is trying to show the rest of the world it is prepared to host the World Cup next year, and the Olympics in 2016.
Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff cut short a visit to Chile early Sunday to return home following the fire.
U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon says he is saddened to learn about the tragedy and is especially moved that so many young people and students were killed. He says he sends his condolences to their families.
Santa Maria is a major university city with a population of about 250,000. The city is on the southern tip of Brazil near the borders with Argentina and Uruguay.
The fire is among the deadliest ever in a nightclub. A blaze in China in 2000 killed 309 people and one in 2004 in Buenos Aires killed 194.
Some information for this report was provided by AP and AFP.