Posted on 08/01/2004 12:53:30 PM PDT by traumer
SUPERMARKET FIRE KILLS 124 - ESTIMATE
At least 124 people have died after a fire swept through a supermarket on the outskirts of Paraguay's capital Asuncion, the country's police chief said.
"They are still taking bodies out of the supermarket," Paraguay's police chief Humberto Nunez told Reuters.
More Follows...
Explosion
Unconfirmed reports say people had to escape through the windows because there were no emergency exits and other doors were blocked.
The cause is not yet known but witnesses speak of hearing an explosion shortly before seeing flames.
Firefighters say the blast may have been caused by a gas leak.
"I have never seen a disaster like this," Public Health Minister Julio Cesar Velazquez told reporters.
Off-duty police officers have been ordered to report for work and the authorities are calling on private hospitals to help the overloaded public health system cope with the casualties.
President Nicanor Duarte, who went to the scene, said: "This is a moment of great anguish."
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/3526436.stm
"Today, Paraguay suffered another setbck in their Super Market program-- and with disastrous results. 124 people lost their lives in an onboard fire that swept through the hull of the doomed produce shop.
"Managers of the Super Market program were at a loss early this morning to explain the failure. "These things are not easy to produce, maintain, or safely operate," said a mission controller who wished to remain anonymous. "They provide great benefits when they do work, but we have yet to master the details that the American-- and even French-- programs seem to have down pat. Operating these complex stores comes across as an afterthought to them. Almost menial, in fact."
The disaster marked the fifth time that a Paraguan Super Market failed to achieve sustainability. Previous efforts have met their demise through several different failures and disasters: an earthquake; a gas line explosion; a massive chemical and subsequent fire spill involving ammonia, chlorine, and (finally) gasoline; and a corrupt management team. The first effort didn't even open because the building crew went on strike for higher wages and destroyed the half-finished structure during a crackdown.
"We will simply have to try again," the Program Director told reporters. "We can't let allow a Super Market gap to develop between us, Bolivia, and Uruguay. Meanwhile, we'll examine the wreckage to determine what and where we went wrong in the planning and operating stages. But it will be months before we know and probably years after that before we can get another Super Market off the ground."
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(Sosueme. Lighten up! :-D)
I pray for all... what a horror. To just be going to market; families, little children - how sad.
ASUNCION, Paraguay -- Fire roared through a supermarket on the outskirts of the Paraguayan capital today, and a television report said 217 people died and dozens were injured..
The fire broke out at the Ycua Bolanos supermarket while it was crowded with midday shoppers.
Fears of a major tragedy prompted President Nicanor Duarte to visit the scene.
"This is a moment of great anguish," Duarte said. "I've come here to provide support to the injured and the families of the deceased," he said.
Authorities gave no official death or injury toll, but district police commander Aristides Cabral said he believed well above the 120 people perished.
Badly burned bodies could be seen as they were taken away after the fire in a scene of confusion as firefighters scrambled through smoking, charred debris.
Television footage showed several levels of the multi-level supermarket covered in soot, including a lower level parking garage. The supermarket is part of a shopping complex located in an Asuncion suburb.
One woman, her face covered with soot, sobbed as she was carried away on the shoulders of a rescue worker. Firefighters battled through smoke to get inside the market and carried other victims out one by one.
Interior Minister Orlando Fiorotto ordered off-duty police and firefighters to the scene and urged hospitals to prepare for the injured.
Hundreds of rescue workers, bystanders and relatives stood outside the shopping complex, located in an Asuncion suburb. Brown smoke still hung in the air above the supermarket hours afterward.
Public Health Minister Julio Cesar Velazquez told reporters, "I have never seen a disaster like this. The firefighters were taking out, as best as they could, the bodies, the injured and people suffering from smoke inhalation. It's horrible."
Cabral, the police commander, said an explosion was reportedly heard before the fire swept through the building, causing at least one floor to collapse.
"There was an explosion inside and the heat forced the bottom floor supporting the basement to give way crushing dozens of people," he said.
Francisco Barrios, a man who was shopping in the store but managed to get out after the fire, described a confusing scene minutes after the fire started with people rushing for the doors.
"There were sparks as if fireworks were going off. The store quickly caught fire and filled with smoke, triggering total confusion," he said, crying. "I lost my wife and kids as I rushed to get out. No I'm desperately trying to find them."
I don't get this. A man rushes to get out without grabbing a couple of his kids or his wife's hand first?
It doesn't make much sense unless he was already separated from them at the time. Whenever I go shopping with my wife, it's pretty common for us to split up in order to grab things we need and get out of there.
No...a *real* man doesn't do that....
True...if they were seperated like that than I guess there is nothing he could really do.
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