Brazil Nightclub Fire: Funerals Set to Take Place [STRIKING IMAGES]

The first set of funerals for the victims of the Brazil nightclub fire are expected to take place shortly in the university town of Santa Maria.

The blaze at the Boate Kiss nightclub in Santa Maria, Rio Grande do Sul, southern Brazil, has left 233 people dead, lower than the earlier death count. Many are still battling for life in hospitals in Santa Maria.

The families of the victims have been devastated by the incident. Scores of coffins have been kept in a nearby gym. The gym is being used as a temporary mortuary as the hospitals are running out of space and facilities.

Barring three, all the victims have been identified. Local reports suggest most of the victims were aged between 16 and 20. They included 120 men and 113 women.

Santa Maria has a population of about 275,000 people of whom more than 25,000 are students.

The fire is said to have broken out after a band let off fireworks. Most of the victims died after getting suffocated by smoke while scores of others were trampled in a panic-driven stampede.

Jamming of the exit is reported to have resulted in many deaths. Initial reports suggested that the survivors were blocked from one exit by the club's security guards thinking that the revellers were trying to flee the bar.

Colonel Guido Pedroso de Melo, the fire chief of the state said: "We ran into a barrier of the dead at the exit. We had to clear a path to get to the rest of those that were inside. Security guards blocked their exit and did not allow them to leave quickly. That caused panic," adding: "The problem was the use of pyrotechnics, which is not permitted."

He said the club was overcrowded with more than 1,500 people making it difficult to escape.

Survivors' Accounts

"Smoke filled the place instantly, the heat became unbearable. People could not find the only exit. They went to the toilet thinking it was the exit and many died there," Murilo Tiescher, a medical student who survived the fire, told GloboNews TV.

Another survivor, Aline Santos, 29, told the channel: "It was really fast. There was a lot of smoke, really dark smoke. We were only able to get out quickly because we were in a VIP area close to the door."

Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff, who was in Chile for a summit of Latin American countries and the EU, has cut short her visit.

"I would like to say to the Brazilian people and to the people of Santa Maria that we stand together at this time, and that even though there's a lot of sadness, we will pull through," Rouseff said before leaving Chile.

Rouseff, who started her political career from the same state where the tragedy has taken place, has assured all possible help for the victims and their families.

This is believed to be the second worst fire tragedy in Brazil after a devastating circus blaze in 1961 that killed more than 500 people.