World

Pepper Spray Panic In Lisbon Kills 7

By CBSNews.com staff CBSNews.com staff

April 16, 2000 / 10:22 AM EDT / CBS

Two containers of pepper gas were hurled into a crowded Lisbon nightclub Sunday, leaving seven people dead after fumes seeped over the dance floor and caused hundreds of people to scramble out the exits.

Police say all seven victims were trampled to death. Sixty people were hospitalized, some for inhaling the fumes, police said.

No one claimed responsibility for the attack, and an investigation was under way.

The attack at the Luanda nightclub came around 4:30 a.m. At the same time the electricity was cut and the lights went out.

TSF Radio reporter Manuela Bires told CBS Radio News it was a "typical situation of panic."

"Some people [says] about pepper gas which injured the eyes and breath," he said.

"It's a new discotheque in Lisbon," he added. "It opened about two weeks ago."

Joaquim Dias, 25, was inside the club when the attack took place. He felt his eyes watering and his throat burning, dipped his sweater in his drink, and covered his mouth.

"People were running everywhere," he said at a nearby police station. "The dance floor was suddenly emptied. There were people on the floor, others were being carried out."

Reporters were not allowed inside the nightclub, in the riverside area of Alcantara where many other nightclubs are located.

The victims were not immediately identified, but authorities said they were three women and four men between the ages of 20 and 25. Six were African and one female victim was Spanish.