Russians mourn 109 dead in blaze

Russia was coming to terms yesterday with its deadliest fire since Soviet times after 109 people died and more than 130 were injured in a blaze at a packed provincial nightclub.

Investigators ruled out terrorism as the cause of Saturday's fire, but President Dmitry Medvedev said the club owners would face severe punishment and ordered a national day of mourning with flags at half-mast.

The fire broke out at the Lame Horse nightclub in Perm, in the Urals region some 1160km east of Moscow. Survivors said an indoor fireworks display went horribly wrong - setting light to the club's rustic wooden ceiling and igniting an inferno.

"The pyrotechnic show caused it," Andrei, a survivor, told the radio station Echo of Moscow. "There was a cascade of sparks from the floor, one and a half metres high. It looks as if a spark reached the ceiling. The whole ceiling is decorated with twigs.

"The ceiling burst into flames. The wiring was up there. The electricity went off instantly, smoke poured out, the lights went out and that was it.

"Then the crush [to escape] began."

Almost 250 mostly young people had crowded into the club for its eighth anniversary party. Video on TV news channels showed guests watching a floor show seated around small wooden tables. As the fire broke out many stayed put. A host then shouted in a casual tone: "Ladies and gentlemen, guests of the club, we are on fire. Please leave." Party-goers stood up - at first nonchalantly - then fled in panic.

A woman, who identified herself only as Olga, said: "There was only one exit, and people starting breaking down the doors to get out. Everything was in smoke. I couldn't see anything."

Many died in the crush or were quickly suffocated by thick black smoke as they tried to reach the single exit.

Local prosecutors arrested the club's co-owner Anatoly Zak and its executive director Svetlana Yefremova, on suspicion that they had violated fire safety precautions. Officials also said they were seeking four other suspects.

Tatyana Golikova, the Health Minister, said 90 of the 130 injured were in a severe condition - with 59 on artificial lung ventilation.

The tragedy is the second to strike Russia in consecutive weeks. Twenty-six people were killed and 100 injured when a train from Moscow to St Petersburg was derailed.

- OBSERVER