Supermarket inferno survivors say doors were locked

Survivors of an inferno in a crowded supermarket said locked doors kept them from escaping the fast-spreading fire that killed at least 296 people in Paraguay’s worst disaster in more than half a century.

Hundreds more were injured, many with serious burns, after the blaze swept through the multilevel Ycua Bolanos supermarket on the outskirts of the capital, Asuncion, while it was crowded with Sunday shoppers.

Attorney General Oscar German LaTorre said 296 people had been killed in the raging fire that erupted during the midday shopping crush. The search for victims resumed at daylight .

Earlier, TV news reported that 340 bodies had been recovered and that hundreds were injured, citing unofficial accounts by rescue workers and police.

Officials said it was the worst tragedy in Paraguay since a failed military insurrection in 1947 left 8,000 people dead.

The heat of the blaze caused one floor to collapse, crushing dozens of parked cars as flames engulfed the motorists inside, police said.

Badly burned bodies, some with twisted limbs, were pulled from the debris as black smoke billowed overhead. Rescuers led away dozens of children found near the store’s toy department.

“This is a moment of great anguish,” President Nicanor Duarte said as he declared three days of national mourning. Schools were closed in Asuncion today, and people jammed hospitals and clinics to donate blood.

Authorities said they had arrested two owners of the supermarket for questioning about reports by some survivors that doors had been locked. The management denied doors were locked after the fire broke out to prevent looting.

Police said they also were investigating survivor accounts the fire may have been fuelled by an exploding gas canister in the food court area.

One survivor, Celeste Silva Hermosa, said she found her way blocked.

“The door was closed,” she said, adding she was not sure how she made it out in the crush of people. “They people just kept pushing me along.”

Juan Pio Paiva, one of the detained owners, angrily denied any speculation that doors had been deliberately locked.

“The security guards confirmed that the doors were not closed by them,” he said, reading from a statement in which he said he “lamented” the disaster and added the building met with necessary safety standards.

Fearful of dangers of working in the still-smouldering building overnight, rescue workers and firefighters resumed digging today, trying to work their way further into a crushed parking garage and food court.

Authorities warned they still could find further victims in the sprawling complex. The head of a volunteer fire brigade, Captain David Rojas, said identification of many of the remains would go slowly. “We are finding badly mutilated bodies, in some areas only torn limbs,” he said.

Overnight, army troops sombrely unloaded truckloads of wooden coffins at makeshift morgues. Tearful relatives filed in today to identify bodies and funerals were being planned at cemeteries around the capital.

Survivor Victor Catan lost his wife in the blaze but escaped with his young son by stumbling out in the dark.

“I managed to get out with son, but my wife didn’t make it,” Catan said, adding he was still searching for her.