Fire in Brazilian night club killed at least 230 people

At least 230 people have died in a fire that swept through a nightclub in a university city in southern Brazil, police and officials say.

 According to BBC , local media say the fire began when a band let off fireworks at the Kiss club in Santa Maria, Rio Grande do Sul.

Many victims reportedly inhaled toxic fumes or were crushed as panicking clubbers tried to escape.

According to local newspaper Diario de Santa Maria, students from the city's federal university (UFSM) were holding a freshers' ball.
Thick smoke engulfed the venue after acoustic insulation caught fire, officials say.
"We looked up at the ceiling in front of the stage and it was catching fire," eyewitness Luana Santos Silva, 23, told Brazil's Globo TV.
"My sister grabbed me and dragged me out on the ground."

The exit, she said, was a "small door for lots of people to come out by".

The young woman's sister, Aline Santos Silva, 29, added: "We managed to see it in time and to get out quickly, before the smoke began to spread