Fires Scorch 2 Austrian Discos
Fire swept through two discos packed with teen-agers after plastic foam packaging material that had been spread out on the dance floors caught on fire, Austrian media reported Saturday.
Most of the 84 people injured in the fires were treated for minor burns and smoke inhalation and sent home. Three people were expected to be hospitalized for several weeks, the reports said.
The larger blaze broke out shortly before midnight Friday at the Joy Disco in St. Agatha village near Bad Goisern, 120 miles southwest of Vienna, during a party in which pieces of plastic foam were strewn ankle-deep on the dance floor, the Austria Press Agency reported.
Austrian radio said the blaze was apparently caused by a burning cigarette tossed onto the plastic foam, which the disco management had been told was fireproof.
The fire at the Joy Disco broke out about two hours after a blaze had erupted at the Tobago nightspot in Oberndorf, 10 miles north of Salzburg on the German border. APA reported that 10 people were injured at that disco, where the dance floor was also covered with plastic foam.
None of the injuries at the Tobago fire were serious, the Austrian agency said.
At the Joy Disco, some 200 people stormed to the emergency exit, only to find it blocked by slot machines, Austrian radio reported. The crowd jammed the main door, trampling several people, according to an Austrian radio reporter at the scene.
"There was panic. People crawled on top of each other," one of the rescuers told Austrian radio without giving his name.
About 100 rescuers rushed to the scene. Austrian radio said it took firefighters about two hours to bring the blaze under control. Fifteen physicians helped those suffering from burns and smoke inhalation.
The party was organized to mark the takeover of the disco by a new manager, Austrian radio reported.
More than two-thirds of the 700 discos and pubs surveyed last summer by the Austrian Ministry for Social Affairs were found to contain emergency exits that lacked adequate lighting and easy access, Austria Press Agency reported.