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Aug 03, 2004
Paraguay Mourns Hundreds Killed in Supermarket Blaze
ASUNCION, Paraguay - The death toll from a supermarket blaze soared by more than 100 to reach 464 Tuesday, as a security guard told investigators he was ordered to lock the building's doors to prevent theft just after the fire began.
[Editor's Note: Anytime there is a tragedy of such magnitude, we invariably ask, "Why does God allow suffering?" In answer to that question, we have posted an excellant article writen by James L. Melton. Read it here.]
Dozens of families were still searching for lost loved ones as investigators questioned the store's owners, manager and security guards over reports that doors were locked, trapping shoppers inside during Sunday's fire, the worst disaster in decades in this impoverished South American country.
The attorney general's office put the death toll at 464, saying 325 bodies had been identified and 139 others still had not. Officials also said 409 people remained hospitalized.
Hundreds were injured in the blaze that broke out during lunch hour Sunday at the three-story Ycuá Bolaños supermarket in a suburb of Asunción, the capital. The fire, accompanied by two explosions, quickly filled the supermarket, food court and parking garage, collapsing one floor. The fire blazed for seven hours before firefighters were able to put it out.
Police are investigating allegations the owner of the supermarket ordered the doors locked during the blaze so that customers could not leave without paying for their goods. Authorities detained a store manager and a security official on Monday. The arrests brought to four the number of people in custody in connection with Sunday's inferno.
The owners, a father and son, were detained for questioning within hours of the disaster. They have strongly denied that doors were locked to prevent theft.
Prosecutor Edgar Sanchez, who is leading the investigation, said a security guard told authorities that at the outset of the fire he received orders over a radio to lock the doors to prevent theft.
Sanchez said the guard "didn't know" who gave the order. "He couldn't identify the voice that spoke to him over the radio," the prosecutor said.
The store's owners, a business associate and four security guards have been taken into custody for questioning. Judicial authorities said they also ordered a freeze on the assets of Juan Pio Paiva, who owns the supermarket with his son.
But officials said they were trying to piece together survivor claims that locked doors might have impeded or slowed shoppers trying to escape.
As funerals and burials were held across the capital, the mood remained edgy. Authorities evacuated a second Asuncion supermarket Tuesday after reports of a gas leak.
At the site of the fire, firefighters and others continued searching for victims in the rose-colored building, which was cordoned off by yellow police tape and guarded by rifle-toting soldiers.
Nearby, some families were trying to locate the bodies of relatives missing and believed dead. Dozens of family members gathered to look over badly burned bodies. Others held up photographs, hoping rescue workers might recognize them.
The first services for victims were held around the capital Monday. In a neighborhood near the complex, some 25 grief-stricken families held wakes and vigils, many after the deaths of children.
Some of the victims were burned beyond recognition, and their caskets are to be marked for possible exhumation in the future to identify the remains, Asuncion Mayor Enrique Riera said.
A pregnant woman, a baby and dozens of children died near the toy section of the three-story complex. Some of the Sunday shoppers were burnt beyond recognition, hugging each other. Others died in an underground parking garage as fire spread after a propane gas blast.
Firemen & neighbors found the main entrance bolted and smashed their way in to reach survivors. "We couldn't get inside and the people couldn't get out," said Liliana Hernandez, 33, who lives next door.
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."
Dozens of volunteer psychologists circulated among the crowd hoping to console relatives, and forensic experts urged some of them to take blood tests and bring dental records and X-rays to help identify victims.
"This is a moment of great anguish," said President Nicanor Duarte Frutos, who visited the site of the tragedy & declared three days of national mourning for the victims. "I've come here to provide support to the injured and the families of the deceased."
President Bush, Pope John Paul II and German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer sent condolences to Paraguay. White House press secretary Scott McClellan said the U.S. Embassy and agencies are working with Paraguayan officials "to identify the emergency assistance that we can provide."
[Sources: AP & RFE/RL]
Posted by David Pryor in In The News, Paraguay | Permalink
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