Brazilian Nightclub Victim Pleaded For Help On Facebook As She Died
A 20-year-old student pleaded on Facebook as she died in the Brazilian nightclub fire that claimed over 230 lives.
Michele Cardoso was in Santa Maria’s Kiss nightclub just before the blaze struck with her sister Clarissa and boyfriend Joao Paulo, both of whom also perished in the blaze.
At 3:20 am, around 50 minutes after the fire started, the cause of which was an indoor firework show, Michele took to her phone and wrote in her native tongue, “Fire at KISS help.”
Over the next few hours, several people responded to the statement, but Michele was unable to write back. Once the medical student was confirmed amongst the dead, one of her friends wrote, “I never imagined that it was serious when I first saw her asking for help on Facebook in the early hours, until I woke up with a message from my mum telling me what had happened.”
It has also been revealed that many of the victims from Sunday’s tragedy died in the club’s bathrooms as they mistook the toilet signs for those of the emergency exit.
Edi Garcia, Santa Maria’s military police chief, remarked, “The scene was terrible, so sad to see. There were so many young people and the space was very small. I took more than 180 people from the restrooms. They had run there trying to escape.”
He also added, “The truck which was taking the bodies away had to come back five time to be filled up again. The scene was so sad.” Three people have since been arrested in connection with the fire.
