Brazil's Cocoanut Grove

Fire rips through crowded Brazil nightclub, killing 233
Excerpt:

"It was a really complicated scene. A lot of smoke, a lot of shoes that was left, cell phones, because everybody tried to get out of there running," he said. "While we were there, we saw the cell phones were ringing. It was parents, friends, trying to know about what was happening and nobody was answering." A fire swept through the packed, popular nightclub in Santa Maria early Sunday, killing at least 233 people -- enough to fill a large plane -- Brazilian Health Minister Alexandro Padilha told reporters. Of those, 185 have been identified so far. Many apparently died from smoke inhalation. Others were trampled in the rush for the exits, one security guard told Band News. More than 90 people were hospitalized, Padilha said, including 14 patients with severe burns. About 2,000 people were inside the club when the fire broke out -- double the maximum capacity of 1,000, said Guido de Melo, a state fire official.

Comment: For a long long time I've had an adversion to crowds. I do not attend our church's musical events because the auditorium is packed. I do not like crowded restaurants or theaters (about 6 times a year I'll take in a movie). More on the 1942 Cocoanut Grove fire. In my youth and in my city (although we were living in Pittsburgh at the time) there was the 1977 Beverly Hills Supper Club fire. Image above is from the Beverly Hills Supper Club fire. My adversion to crowds has grown since I broke my neck.