Firefighters on Sunday dug through the rubble of a
massive blaze sparked by a fireworks explosion in historic downtown Lima, retrieving 235
bodies by the afternoon. Officials were trying to learn what sparked the disaster.
Propelled by exploding fireworks at dozens of
sidewalk stands, a wall of fire raced across four blocks Saturday night, trapping holiday
shoppers and street vendors who had jammed the narrow streets lined with shops and aging
apartment buildings.
There was little hope of finding survivors inside
the burned-out buildings, where temperatures exceeded 1,100 degrees at the height of the
fire.
Lima Fire Chief Tulio Nicolini initially said the
blaze appeared to have started in a warehouse filled with fireworks. But several witnesses
said it began when a firecracker exploded in an area spilling over with stands selling
fireworks.
Augusto Vega, who was watching out the window of his
second-floor apartment, said he saw someone set off a large firecracker in the street
below, apparently to test it. It set off other fireworks nearby, he said.
"I had to jump to another roof, and I and a kid
I helped to get out got a broken ladder and tried to get out whoever we could.
"Many people stayed behind to try to save their
belongings and they died. I tried to get a crippled man out but it was too late," he
said, tears welling up in his eyes.
One survivor, 31-year-old Jose Fernandez Vega, said
many people were trapped.
"The way out was blocked by taxis and people in
the streets," Vega said from the Arzobispo Loayza hospital, where he was being
treated for burns to his arms, face and ears.
"People were trapped, screaming, in cars and
the shopping galleries. Old people, women, children," he said. "People were
burning standing up. They were burning on top of one another.
"I thought I was going to die. The smoke was
dark. Then I saw a light from a rocket. I couldn't breathe, but I started running
over the tops of the taxis. I jumped over three or four. They were burning."
At least 122 people, including small children, were
found dead in the streets after the towering blaze raced down the streets, accompanied by
the machinegun-like explosions of fireworks from the stands that clogged the sidewalks.
Many of the victims were trapped between two walls of fire and had nowhere to run.
Dozens more were discovered as firefighters began
digging into the rubble of fire-gutted buildings, bringing the total number of recovered
bodies to 235 by midafternoon, said Interior Minister Fernando Rospigliosi.
At
least 144 more were hospitalized with burns.
Rospigliosi said the victims included shopkeepers
who had shut themselves inside their stores to deter looters. Store owners pulled down
metal doors that warped in the heat, trapping them inside.
Luiz Bazan, a civil defense official, said rescue
workers still had to search two-thirds of the burned buildings, including at least six
multistory shopping galleries honeycombed with tiny stores.
President Alejandro Toledo cut short a trip to the
north of Peru to return to the capital. He declared Sunday and today national days of
mourning and announced an immediate ban on the production, importation or sale of
fireworks.
"We are going to implement drastic measures
against those who make them legally, illegally or import them," Toledo said, standing
atop a firetruck Sunday after reviewing the fire's destruction.
"This is one of the most tragic moments I have
had to live through as a person and obviously as president," he said.
Fireworks are popular in Peru during Christmas and
New Year celebrations and are sold on streets throughout the capital during the holiday
season. On Sunday, vendors were out on the streets again in outlying neighborhoods
offering a wide range of fireworks.
"I don't understand the satisfaction that a
person gets from exploding a firecracker when there are other ways of receiving the new
year with peace," Nicolini, the fire chief, said Sunday, standing in a soaked,
debris-covered street in the devastated area. "I think it's time we reflect on more
decent ways to celebrate the holiday season."
It has not been illegal to sell fireworks in Peru,
but Lima Mayor Alberto Andrade said he had tried to keep them from being sold in dangerous
areas like the narrow, crowded downtown streets.
"Regrettably, the merchants marched in the
streets and even fought the municipal police when they tried to confiscate fireworks being
sold in unauthorized areas," he said.
Firefighters encountered a horrific scene when they
rushed to battle the rapidly spreading blaze.
Bodies charred beyond recognition were scattered in
the streets and in buildings. Police carried badly burned victims stripped to their
underwear in makeshift stretchers made of plastic sheeting.
One firefighter rushed from a burning building with
a baby in his arms as people stumbled out into the smoke-filled streets, where flames had
gutted parked cars. Passengers died trapped in cars caught in the blocked streets, their
bodies burned so badly that it was not possible to tell whether they were men or women.
At one point, a dozen people trapped behind security
bars on the second floor of a building pushed their arms through broken windows and
screamed to be rescued. Firefighters pulled 30 people from the building before it was
gutted by fire.
Efforts to fight the blaze were hindered at first by
low water pressure and by crowds of onlookers who initially blocked fire trucks from the
scene.
The fire chief said 440 firefighters were called in
from several districts to fight the blaze, about four blocks from Peru's Congress in the
historic downtown section of Lima.
Officials cut electricity to the area to limit the
possibility of short circuits adding to the fire, and firefighters used portable
generators to power floodlights trained on the blaze.
-- City
authorities say they have begun identifying the victims of the blaze, but some bodies are
burned beyond recognition.
Rescuers are still picking through the
charred rubble of the shopping centre to recover more bodies but work has been slow
because some were trapped in cars caught in the fire and there are fears of structural
collapse.
Fears that damaged buildings might
collapse have hampered emergency workers, who are using infra-red cameras to locate
bodies.
Police confiscate tons of fireworks
-- Police
combed through downtown Lima for fireworks Monday, lugging away crate after crate of Roman
candles, bottle rockets and firecrackers in hopes of averting a disaster like the inferno
that killed nearly 300 people over the weekend.
The seizures followed the deadliest fire in Peru's
history, which occurred Saturday night in an area of historic downtown Lima filled with
holiday shoppers.
Lima Fire Chief Tulio Nicolini said the blaze began
after sparks from a firecracker, lit apparently as a demonstration, ignited others on
fireworks stands nearby.
The ensuing blaze devoured four blocks of decrepit
apartment buildings and shopping galleries in a matter of minutes, leaving dozens of
people, including small children, charred beyond recognition.
About 40 tons of fireworks had been stashed in the
congested neighborhood, said Gabriela Adrianzen of the mayor's office. It was not clear
how much went off in the fire.
As rescue workers continued to search for victims,
Attorney General Nelly Calderon said the death toll had reached 290 by Monday afternoon.
--
Trapped in Peru: People are seen trapped in a
devastating fire in Lima, Peru, on Saturday. The fire broke out when a cache of fireworks
exploded near a street market and a fire spread to apartments and stores.
At least 235 bodies recovered from fire.
