A sudden fire at an unlicensed nightclub killed 23 people and injured 58 others in Lima, capital of Peru, early Saturday, according Preruvian police.
Police said some 1,000 people were on the premises when the fire broke out, noting that the death toll might rise. The death and injuries were due to burns, smoke inhalation and cuts.
The fire broke out at the dance club, located in a shopping center in southern Lima, when a show putting on.
Local officials and firefighters had said on previous occasions that the nightclub lacked permits and licenses to operate in the Jockey Plaza shopping center.
The work of rescue workers and firefighters was hindered by the hundreds of people surrounding the shopping center to inquire about loved ones and family members.
On December 29 of last year, some 280 people were killed in the Peruvian capital as a fire raced through a crowded downtown marketplace jammed with fireworks and firecrackers being sold for the traditional Latin American year-end festivities.
(China Daily July 22, 2002)
