Brazil nightclub owner blames fire on "whole country"

A woman cries over the coffin of her boyfriend at a gymnasium where bodies were brought for identification in Santa Maria city, Rio Grande do Sul state, Brazil, Sunday, Jan. 27, 2013. They were both at the Kiss nightclub when flames raced through the crowded club in southern Brazil early Sunday, killing more than 230 people. / AP Photo/Nabor Goulart

SANTA MARIA, Brazil The owner of a nightclub in southern Brazil where more than 230 people died in a fire last weekend deflected blame to "the whole country," as well as to architects and inspectors charged with making sure the building was safe, his lawyer said Wednesday.

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Attorney Jader Marques said his client, Elissandro Spohr, "regretted having ever been born" because of his grief over the fire, but still blamed Sunday's tragedy on "a succession of errors made by the whole country."

Police investigating the blaze have said it likely started when a country music band performing at the Kiss nightclub in the college town of Santa Maria lit a flare, which ignited flammable soundproofing foam on the ceiling. That initial error was compounded by the near-total lack of emergency infrastructure such as a fire alarms or sprinkler systems, police have said. The club also had only one working door and a faulty fire extinguisher.

Marques insisted in a phone interview with The Associated Press that "my client's responsibility is having trusted too much in the inspectors and in those responsible for the construction."

"Hindsight is 50-50," he said, stressing that public officials had signed off on the club.

The number of injured jumped to 143 Wednesday after 22 people were admitted to hospitals with respiratory problems after having escaped the club apparently unharmed. Brazil Health Minister Alexandre Padilha has urged the fire's survivors to remain alert for any symptoms of so-called "chemical pneumonia," which can take up to three days to develop following exposure to toxic fumes and smoke.

The blaze also claimed another life late Tuesday, raising the death toll to 235, as a 21-year-old man with burns covering 70 percent of his body succumbed to his wounds. Brazilian media reported that the man's brother was also killed in the fire.

Police detained Spohr, the club's other co-owner and two musicians who were playing in the club when the fire broke out, and are holding them for five days as part of the investigation. Spohr is in police custody at a hospital in a nearby town, where he's recovering from a respiratory infection and is said to be suffering from depression.

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Lilian Caus, one of the officers watching Spohr, said he had made a suicidal gesture, removing a shower hose and tying it to a bathroom window Tuesday.

"By the way it was tied it looked like he wanted to use it to hang himself by the neck, but he didn't even use it," Caus said. "There seems to have been the intention to use it."

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Marques denied reports that overcrowding helped cause Sunday's tragedy, insisting there were only 600 to 700 people in the club at any one time. Capacity for the 615-square-meter (6,650-square-foot) nightspot stood at less than 700, though the band's guitarist told media that the space was packed with an estimated 1,200 to 1,300 people. Police have given the same estimate.

Marques insisted that any higher tallies of people at the club that night were due to club-goers cycling in and out.

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[hawkman1001-2009]

Nice try with blaming the whole country. Regardless of what inspectors did or did not do, ultimately it is the responsibility of the club owner to make sure that he is complying with all the relevant regulations. And then there is that little thing called common sense. When you going to let pyrotechnics off in a crowded nightclub, you need to make sure that they are made for indoor use. Obviously, that did not happen. And the buck stops with the nightclub owner who appears to have been grossly negligent.

[Swift29]

No no Steady, you @sswipes continue to believe the greatest economic downfall since the great depression could somehow have been magically corrected in four years or less by a president when CONGRESS is to blame, both sides. You walking lobotomy pod people need to turn off the pablum and wake up: Obama IS a citizen, the Clintons didn't murder Foster and, HATE TO TELL YOU but far more knee-jerk nincompoops WILL assert 'IT'S OBAMA'S FAULT.'

[enlightenu]

Brazil would do well to adopt the 2009 IBC.

[stupa5]

Tell this idiot owner this ain't no Brazilln team Soccer match where your bad acting skills can get a foul call!

[Ericwvb]

"my client's responsibility is having trusted too much in the inspectors and in those responsible for the construction."

Translation: if the government doesn't force me (and won't take bribes to look the other way) to take common-sense measures to have a safe club, measures that will no doubt cost me money and reduce my profits, then it's not my fault!

[erinlbaxter]

How is hindsight 50-50?

[PourpaixPourpaix]

Yup, it's the government's fault for not performing daily inspections on required fire equipment. It's the police's fault for not checking to make sure the club wasn't overcrowded. It's the architect's fault for not making the ceiling high enough to shoot off roman candles. It's the builder's fault for not putting in ceilings that are inflammable to the degree where they could take a roman candle hit. It's the customer's fault for not complaining about the lack of sprinkler equipment. It's the employee's fault for running to save their lives when the fire immediately got out of control. It's the door fairy's fault for nailing the doors shut.

I'm interested to see if any of that works for that clown. If it does, boy am I gonna have a fun weekend.

[bobnjersey]

["my client's responsibility is having trusted too much in the inspectors and in those responsible for the construction."]
------------------------------------------
flammable materials ... only one exit ... no fire suppression ... too many people in the building.

c'mon ... you have to be an idiot to not know this produces the conditions for a potential tragedy.

[stupa5]

Why stop with the Whole Country to blame..
He could also blame Portugal
The Portuguese navigator Pedro Alvares Cabral is generally credited with the discovery of Brazil, in May 1500.