Short-circuit caused blaze

2004-08-06 09:52

Asuncion - An electrical short-circuit apparently caused the Asuncion supermarket blaze last Sunday, Paraguayan President Nicanor Duarte said on Thursday, blaming locked gates for many of the more than 400 deaths.

"Initial information shows it probably was a short-circuit," the president said as he surveyed the aftermath of the fire.

"People were locked in. That is why the number of victims was enormous," said Duarte.

The president also said there were not enough emergency exits.

Bodies still need to be identified

The owners of the shopping centre and four guards have been arrested and charged with ordering the gates locked during the blaze so shoppers would not leave without paying.

Even children said security personnel prevented them from leaving as flames engulfed the shopping center,

Firefighter Juan Carlos Valiente recalled the horror of seeing the lifeless bodies of children who died in each others' arms.

As the fire raged, guards used rifles to hold back the fleeing crowd, said Valiente, adding that one of them threatened him with a pistol and fired it in the air.

"We don't have the exact figures because there are bodies that still need to be identified, but there are at least 40 children," Mercedes de Buzo, the minister for children's affairs said.

Children were at a birthday party

Several of the children who did manage to escape the inferno were rescued by older siblings.

Luis Canzanella, 13, said he grabbed his two-year-old brother and rushed to the gate just before it was locked.

But another brother, Leandro Rodrigo, 7, died, and was later identified by the toy he had been playing with, found clutched in his lifeless hand.

Police spokesperson Santiago Velazco said that at the time of the fire, most of the children were in a play area, which was packed for a children's birthday party.

Authorities believe a gas explosion in that area, where restaurants also are located, had caused Sunday's fire.

"We have ruled out a terrorist attack," said Fiorotto.

Paraguayan authorities, assisted by agents of the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation, are still trying to determine the precise cause of the tragedy, as forensic experts try to identify dozens of victims burned beyond recognition.

Juan Pio Paiva and his son Daniel, the supermarket owners, as well as four security guards, have been detained and charged with manslaughter for allegedly locking the gates during the blaze to ensure customers would not leave without paying for their purchases.

- AFP