Brazil club inferno leaves 232 dead

A blaze tore through a crowded nightclub in southern Brazil early yesterday, killing 232 people as the air filled with deadly smoke and panicked party-goers stampeded toward the exits.

Witnesses said that a flare or firework lit by a band may have started the fire.

Police Major Cleberson Braida Bastianello said officials counted 232 bodies brought for identification to a gymnasium in the city of Santa Maria, at the southern tip of Brazil.