(28 Jan 2013)
++NIGHT SHOTS++
1. Wide of crowds outside gymnasium where the victims' bodies from the nightclub fire were taken for identification
2. Mid of authorities directing traffic in parking lot
3. Mid of people filing in and out gymnasium
4. Mid of people walking inside gymnasium
5. Top shot of crowds inside gymnasium, people standing around coffins
6. Mid of two men embracing
7. SOUNDBITE: (Portuguese) Neri Paniss, professor at Federal University of Santa Maria:
"A large majority of them were alumni from my university. It's not just now, at this moment of loss that they will be missed, but each day."
8. Mid of coffin placed on wooden stand and mourners gathered around it
9. Close of photos and soft toy on top of coffin
10. Close of victim's photo printed on sheet of paper, reading: "Joao Carlos Barcellos. 24 June 1985 - 27 January 2013."
11. Close of victim's photo, reading: "Tanise Cielo"
12. SOUNDBITE: (Portuguese) Adilson Montero, friend of a victim:
"We can't believe this. This is something that has left its mark on the city and will leave its mark for a long time to come. It's an enormous tragedy, very big."
13. Various of crowds inside the gymnasium
14. Wide of street where nightclub is located, with yellow police tape
15. Wide front exterior of nightclub with burned and torn walls from fire, sign reading: (English) "Kiss"
16. Mid of "Kiss" sign
17. Close of "Kiss" sign
STORYLINE
Relatives and friends of more than 230 people killed in a nightclub fire in southern Brazil filled a community gymnasium on Sunday night to claim the bodies of their loved ones.
Officials said 233 bodies had been brought for identification to the gymnasium in Santa Maria, which is located at the southern tip of Brazil, near the borders with Argentina and Uruguay.
The fire swept through the Kiss nightclub with about 900 people inside.
Inspectors think the blaze began when a band's small pyrotechnics show ignited foam sound insulating material on the ceiling, releasing a putrid, deadly haze that choked scores of university students to death.
Most victims died from smoke inhalation, not burns.
Firefighters responding to the blaze at first had trouble getting inside the Kiss nightclub because bodies partially blocked the club's entryway in what appeared to be the world's deadliest nightclub fire in more than a decade.
Authorities said members of the band onstage when the fire broke out spoke with police and confirmed they used pyrotechnics during their show.
The party at the nightclub was organised by students from several academic departments from the Federal University of Santa Maria.
Such organised university parties are common throughout Brazil.
"A large majority of them were alumni from my university. It's not just now at this moment of loss that they will be missed, but each day," said Neri Paniss, a professor at Federal University of Santa Maria.
Santa Maria Mayor's decreed a 30-day mourning period due to the nightclub disaster.
"We can't believe this. This is something that has left its mark on the city and will leave its mark for a long time to come," said Adilson Montero whose friend was killed in the fire.
Brazil President Dilma Rousseff visited some of the injured in hospital after cutting short her trip to a Latin American-European summit in Chile.
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