Status: 11.12.2021 11:36 a.m.
In 2013, a fire in a disco in Santa Maria, southern Brazil, killed 242 people and injured hundreds. The four people responsible now have to go to prison for a long time.
Almost nine years after a devastating fire in a Brazilian discotheque that left 242 dead, the four people responsible have been sentenced to long prison terms. The two owners of the “Kiss” nightclub and two musicians were found guilty of manslaughter and attempted manslaughter by a court in Porto Alegre. The two owners are jailed for 22.5 and 19.5 years, respectively. The musicians were each sentenced to 18 years in prison.
The fire in January 2013 in the southern Brazilian city of Santa Maria is one of the most devastating disasters in the history of Brazil. During a music show, members of the band set off illegal fireworks that set fire to the club’s easily inflammable ceiling insulation.
Two emergency exits, broken fire extinguishers
Numerous guests attending a student party at the club were burned or choked on the smoke, and hundreds more were injured. The club only had two badly signposted emergency exits; the fire extinguishers were broken.
The public prosecutor had accused the defendants of having acted with “possible criminal intent” because they had taken the risk of the consequences even if they had not planned to do so. The prosecution’s line of argument ultimately led to longer sentences than the victims’ families and survivors had hoped for.
Numerous survivors testified
“The guilt of the accused is great. So many lives were not accidentally wiped out,” said Judge Orlando Faccini when the verdict was pronounced. 14 survivors and 19 witnesses were heard during the ten-day trial.