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The pain in the Brazilian city of Santa María has not stopped after it was shocked by a fire in nightclub Kiss that killed 231 people and wounded around a hundred. The sadness continues as the relatives of the victims stayed up all night trying to recognize their family members to bury them.
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The number of reported deaths was changed from 233 to 231 by local authorities but it seems this number will change again.
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Several coffins accompanied by lots of family memebers, remained at the City Gym Center which was used as a place for family to identify the corpses. The center became the epicenter of the tragedy.
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The Gym Center was a busy place all day as family and friends were present plus voluntaries, doctors, psycologists, priests and journalists.
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A big part of the 261.000 inhabitants of Santa María, in the South of Brazil, went to the center to show their support to the victims' families.
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"We know it could have been any of us. There is nobody in Santa Maria that is not touched by this tragedy. It was somthing without explanation," said doctor Cléber Lotes, who went to help as a voluntary to give assistance to any family members who had a panic attack.
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At the entrance, an endless list with the deceased that was updated constantly, was proof of the magnitude of the tragedy.
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All coffins had a banner at the end which identified the victim and on top of them, there were some personal objects such as stuffed animals, photographs,or soccer team flags of Gremio and Internacional which canceled their games.
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Family members were trying to understand how a pyrotechnics show turned into a big fire in just minutes killing the majority of the people inside who were enjoying a college party.
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A young student, Mattheus Dias, said it will be very difficult for him to overcome this tragedy in which he lost an exgirlfriend who was very close to him, and some friends.
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The majority of the friends and family members declined to talk with the press and many chose to move the wakes to more intimate places such as churches and cementeries that stayed open all night.
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At the Santa Rita cementery, outside of Santa María, 5 victims were mourned all night by several family members, in a similar scene to the City Center. Many people stayed after the visit of Brazilian president, Dilma Rousseff.
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Although already identified, dozens of bodies remain at the morgue because their family memebers have not been able to arrive to the small city which is 180 miles from Porto Alegre.
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A mass was scheduled for this morning presided by bishop Helio Adelar Hubert, which will be followed by the funerals at the city's cementery at 9am with the help of military personnel from an air base located close to the sity.
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The fire left 166 people injured, 80 of them in critical condition.
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The fire started on Sunday morning at 'Kiss' nightclub in the college town of Santa Maria, in the state of Rio Grande do Sul, after a firework was launched by a member of a musical band "Gurizada Fandangueira", which was playing at the time.
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The exit door was closed by security members that pretended to have people pay before they left the club, according to survivors.
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People inside the nightclub suffered from panic and started stepping on each other. It was a "horror movie" said 21-year old quemistry student Kelly Rebello da Silva, who survived.
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The nightclub's firefighter permit which is required to open was expired since August, according to authorities. However, the nightclub said in a statement that all permits were up to date and what happened was a "fatality".
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A collective wake for 24 corpses was held Monday morning at the sporting center where several bodies were transported cadáveres. This is second worst fire in the history of Brazil, after the one occured in a circus in 1961 in Rio de Janeiro in which 503 people died. (Source: EFE/AFP)
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The pain in the Brazilian city of Santa María has not stopped after it was shocked by a fire in nightclub Kiss that killed 231 people and wounded around a hundred. The sadness continues as the relatives of the victims stayed up all night trying to recognize their family members to bury them.
Photo: Getty Images
