Asunción fire disaster

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In the fire disaster in Asunción in Paraguay on August 1, 2004, 396 people were killed and over 500 others were injured, some seriously. The accident happened when a fire broke out in the Ycuá Bolaños shopping center, leaving numerous customers and employees trapped in the building.

Course of the accident

The supermarket in the Asuncion district of Trinidad with an adjoining catering area was opened in 2001. The building had a retail space of around 12,000 square meters and a garage below with 350 parking spaces.

On the day of the accident, a Sunday, the shopping center was very busy, as many customers had received their monthly wages shortly before and the traditional day of friendship was celebrated in Paraguay this weekend .

The fire broke out around 11:20 a.m. and spread rapidly over the entire surface of the supermarket via the falling false ceiling .

According to witness statements, the entrance areas of the shopping center were locked by the store's security personnel after the fire broke out in order to prevent looting . As a result, numerous people were no longer able to get to safety via the exits, and no other emergency exits were available. To rescue the injured and to fight the fire, the fire brigade built passages through the outer walls and the security windows of the building. The fire could only be brought under control towards evening.

Due to the large number of injuries and fatalities, the emergency and health infrastructure of Paraguay was reaching its limits. Rescue workers from professional fire brigades, volunteer fire brigades , the police, the military as well as state and private health services were involved in the rescue and care of the injured; the fatalities were first taken to a neighboring discotheque .

Fire temperatures of up to over 1,000 ° C were reached inside the building. For many of the victims, direct exposure to fire is the cause of death; for others, death from asphyxiation or poisoning from inhalation of toxic gases was found. Many of the survivors had taken baths and cold rooms to safety.

The disaster came as the worst peacetime disaster in Paraguay's history .

Cause of the fire

According to investigations, the fire was triggered by an incorrectly installed and insufficiently maintained ventilation pipe in the area of ​​the restaurant kitchen. A bend in the pipe could cause increased deposits of soot and grease to form, which were finally ignited by a high-flying spark from the hearth fire. When the soldered seam melted, a piece of pipe fell onto the false ceiling and initially triggered a smoldering fire that spread across the entire building area on the upper side of the false ceiling.

When parts of this ceiling fell, the oxygen supply sparked a widespread full fire, which quickly spread to the sales area. The fire was intensified by several gas cylinders exploding in the restaurant kitchen.

consequences

On the day of the disaster, the then President of Paraguay, Nicanor Duarte Frutos, ordered a three-day state mourning .

The accident sparked intense discussions about the security of publicly accessible buildings in Paraguay, which until then had often been handled rather negligently. By order of the city administration of Asunción and other cities, numerous shopping centers and other facilities had to be retrofitted with security technology.

The fact that the access areas were closed and were actually intended as escape routes was viewed as particularly serious, which is what led to the high number of fatalities and injuries. As a result, the security staff held responsible and the operators of the shopping center were sentenced to several years in prison. Further, but shorter, prison sentences were imposed on the Asunción city council employees responsible for building approval and the building's architect.

On the 13th anniversary of the accident, construction of a memorial designed as a cultural and meeting center began on August 1, 2017 on the property of the former shopping center. The facility is expected to be completed by the end of 2019.

See also

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Víctimas del Ycuá Bolaños sorprendidos por estar en la lista del papa - HOY (span.)
  2. ↑ 1 de agosto de 2004 - Incendio - Interparaguay (span.) ( Memento of the original from November 19, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.interparaguay.com
  3. ↑ Fuego alcanzó un calor de mil grados - ABC Color (Spanish)
  4. ↑ Cómo recuerdan aquel terrible 1 de agosto - HOY (span.) ( Memento of the original from November 19, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.hoy.com.py
  5. ↑ Fuego alcanzó un calor de mil grados - ABC Color (Spanish)
  6. ↑ Avaricia cobró 396 muertos - Notiamérica (Spanish)
  7. ↑ Schematic representation of the cause of the fire (span.)
  8. ↑ More than 300 people mueren al explotar el supermercado Ycuá Bolaños - ABC Color (span.)
  9. ↑ Ycuá Bolaños, lo que la gente recuerda de la tragedia - Última Hora (Spanish)
  10. ↑ Ycuá Bolaños, a 9 años de la tragedia - ABC Color (Spanish)
  11. ↑ Mañana arrancan obras para memorial del Ycuá Bolaños - La Nación (Spanish)
  12. ↑ Construcción del Memorial del Ycuá Bolaños culminará para fin de año - Última Hora (Span.)