Locked door caused deaths: rescuers

Press, 20 February 1986, Page 6

Locked door caused deaths: rescuers

NZPA-Reuter Rio de Janeiro

A padlocked fireescape door caused at least 15 of the estimated 23 deaths in a fire that burned through a 13storey office-block in central Rio de Janeiro on Tuesday, rescue workers said yesterday. Rescuers who jumped from helicopters on to the roof of the building had to cut through the locked metal door. On the other side they found a pile of bodies. “It was a death-trap. The people died. from burns and suffocation on the very brink of safety,” said one rescue worker.

At least 23 people died in the blaze, including three who jumped from tenth-floor windows desperately trying to escape the flames. No official death toll has been announced.

'Hospital sources said 18 of the 30 people being treated for burns were in serious condition.

Yesterday’s newspapers were full of criticism of the outdated, broken, and inadequate equipment used to fight the flames. Fire hoses burst, nearby fire hydrants were unusable, and ladders were too short to reach victims.

The fire began around lunch-time and held the city spellbound for hours. Thousands watched on television and from the streets below as people trapped by the fire appeared at smoke-filled windows screaming for help.

A television reporter, her voice breaking with emotion, gave a live commentary as a woman jumped to her death. “My God... it looks as if the person on the twelfth floor is going to jump. Everybody down here is begging her to keep calm. My God, she’s let go. No. My God, she’s thrown herself off,” said the reporter, bursting into tears.

The cause of the fire

has not been officially announced. But a man who worked in the ninthfloor office where the blaze broke out said he believed it started in an air-conditioner. Brazil’s worst fire tragedy was In Sao Paulo, in 1974, when 188 people died and hundreds were seriously burned in an office building blaze.