17 killed in stampede after brawl at crowded Caracas club

CARACAS, Venezuela－At least 17 people were killed in a stampede at a nightclub in capital Caracas on Saturday morning after a tear gas bomb was detonated during a brawl at a graduation celebration, a government official said.

Interior Minister Nestor Reverol said the incident at the "Los Cotorros" club in the middle-class neighborhood of El Paraiso left eight minors dead and five injured. Eight people were detained, including two teens believed responsible for setting off the canister.

Family members wept and embraced one another after identifying the remains of their loved ones at a nearby hospital. Outside the club, several mismatched shoes, including a sandal with a puckered red lip decoration, lay on the sidewalk.

"All I know is my son is dead," Nilson Guerra, 43, told local journalists.

More than 500 people were believed to be inside the club when the fight broke out. Julio Cesar Perdomo said his injured son told him the tear gas was launched from inside a bathroom and that partygoers tried to flee but found the club's door closed. Pictures posted by Reverol on Twitter show a narrow staircase leading to a metal door.

"The kids couldn't leave," Perdomo said.

Officials did not provide any information to confirm or deny Perdomo's account.

The club is officially called "El Paraiso" but is more widely known as "Los Cotorros", or "The Chatterboxes". Photos shared online from previous celebrations at the club show a dark interior with wooden tables and a stage upfront where DJs shuffled songs. Green painted metal bars and gates covered the doors and windows.

Police have detained the owner of the club for "not guaranteeing adequate supervision and preventing the entry of any type of weapon". No information on the owner's name, exact charges or current whereabouts was immediately provided.

"The establishment has been ordered closed, and we are investigating in coordination with the public ministry, which is directing the criminal investigation," Reverol said.

Relatives of those inside the club said the party was a celebration for the graduating class of several different high schools.

Haide Berrio, the aunt of a 17-year-old boy killed in the melee, told local media she went running out to find her nephew in the middle of the night after hearing about the commotion at the club and knowing that he was attending the party.

Relatives of the boy found him among the dead and said he was killed by asphyxia.

Her eyes sunken in grief, she said all the family wants now is for the club to be permanently closed and the owner held responsible.

Many victim relatives echoed her call for accountability.

Yoanna Aponte said her 16-year-old cousin died after being crushed by the stampede.

"She fell to the ground," she said between wails, "and all the kids stumbled over her."

Xinhua-AP