Death toll in Paraguay fire rises to 464
PARAGUAY continued its grief yesterday over the fire disaster that razed a supermarket and put the figure of the death toll at 464, having risen from the previously estimated 130 victims.
The inferno broke out at the weekend in the impoverished South American country. And as investigations began yesterday, a security guard at the market disclosed that he received orders to lock the building's doors just after the blaze began to prevent theft.
Investigators have been questioning the store owners, manager's and security guards over reports that doors were locked, trapping shoppers inside during Sunday's fire, the worst disaster in decades in Paraguay.
The Attorney-General's office put the death toll at 464, saying 325 victims had been identified and 139 others were yet to be known. Officials also said that 409 others remained hospitalised.
The blaze broke out during lunch hour at the three-storey supermarket in a suburb of Asuncion, the capital. Flames quickly filled the Ycua Bolanos supermarket, food court and parking garage, causing one floor to collapse.
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.
The cause of the blaze has not yet been determined, but police said an exploding gas cylinder may have been the cause.
The shop owners - a father and son - the store manager and a security guard have been taken into custody for questioning over the blaze.
Juan Pio Paiva, who owns the market with his son, dismissed a speculation that the doors had been deliberately locked to prevent looting and said the building met safety codes. He said he lamented the deaths.
But officials said they were trying to piece together survivors' claims that locked doors might have impeded or slowed weekend shoppers trying to escape.
Attorney-General Oscar Latorre appealed to survivors to come forward to describe what happened. Authorities set up a table outside the supermarket - a pink-and-white building occupying nearly an entire city block - to question survivors and other witnesses.`
"Many witnesses said that security guards had closed the doors," Latorre said.
The first services for victims were held around the capital on Monday. In a neighborhood near the complex, some 25 grief-stricken families held wakes and vigils, many after the death 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.
Ruben Aguiar said his family held a candlelit vigil for his missing 23-year-old sister, Marina, only to learn she was found alive but injured.
"This is a moment of such great pain because of this tragedy but my whole family are now overjoyous," Aguiar told reporters.
Rescuers continued to search for bodies, but Police Chief Aristides Cabral said it appeared unlikely they would find more victims.
Cabral said rescue efforts were hampered by fears the building might collapse.
Esther Benitez, a 30-year-old cashier who suffered burns, said she at first found her way blocked as she tried to escape. "I ran toward the main door but it was locked," she said at her hospital bed on Monday.
Some neighbours said they were forced to break windows to enter the supermarket because the doors wouldn't open.
"We couldn't get inside and the people couldn't get out," said Liliana Hernandez, 33, who lives next door.
President George Bush, Pope John Paul II and German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer sent condolences to Paraguay. White House press secretary Scott McClellan said the United States Embassy and agencies are working with Paraguayan officials "to identify the emergency assistance that we can provide."
