SANTA MARIA, Brazil — Brazilian police officials said Monday that they’ve made three detentions and are seeking a fourth person in a blaze that ripped through a nightclub in southern Brazil over the weekend, killing more than 230 people.
Inspector Ranolfo Vieira Junior said at a news conference that the detentions are for investigative purposes and those detained can be held up to five days. He declined to identify those detained or the fourth person sought, but the Brazilian newspaper Zero Hora quotes lawyer Jader Marques saying his client Elissandro Spohr, a co-owner of the club, had been held.
The paper also says police detained two band members who were on stage when the blaze broke out and were thought to have used pyrotechnics in their act.
A military brigade official said Monday that the death toll now stands at 231 people in the early Sunday blaze in the Kiss nightclub in Santa Maria, a university town of about 260,000 people in southern Brazil.
Many of the victims were under 20 years old, including some minors. Most victims died from smoke inhalation rather than burns.
Funerals began Monday in the city of Santa Maria, Brazil, where the blaze occurred.
Read tomorrow's Arkansas Democrat-Gazette for full details.