Mourners visit US club fire scene

Mourners visit US club fire scene

Most of the dead were young

Relatives of victims of the Rhode Island rock concert blaze have started visiting the charred remains of The Station club.

The authorities are bussing families of the 96 dead to the sealed site after a request was made to State Governor Don Carcieri for a formal viewing.

Governor Carcieri has ordered a no-fly zone within eight kilometres (five miles) of the spot in West Warwick, which is now surrounded by a chain-link fence and police guards, to give the families some privacy to mourn.

Pathologists and dentists have been working around the clock to identify the bodies, but so far only 21 have been matched.

US club fires

Worst blaze in living memory was at the Coconut Grove club, Boston, in 1942 when 491 people died

A fire at a social club in The Bronx, New York, in 1990 claimed 87 lives

The governor said on Sunday that 65 people were still in hospital burns units while another 105 had been treated and released.

A memorial service is planned for Sunday night to honour the fans who died as a pyrotechnic display turned into an inferno during a concert by the heavy metal band Great White.

Described as "prayer unplugged," the organisers of the service are asking mourners to bring acoustic guitars with them to remember the dead.

As the investigation into Thursday's blaze continued, State Attorney General Patrick Lynch warned that he would bring criminal charges if necessary.

"There could be a whole menu of charges - it could be manslaughter, it could be murder, it could be simple assault," he said.

'Agony'

Police had, until Sunday, been keeping mourners away from the site, which is now little more than a heap of charred wood and metal.

The building was made of wood

A large cross marks the spot where the entrance to The Station used to be. This will now be the visiting area for the bereaved.

Governor Carcieri described the anguish being experienced by the families, saying "they're very angry".

"The agony they've been going through for the last 48 hours almost has turned into what you'd expect, the kinds of questions: 'Why did this happen? Did it have to happen? What caused it to happen? Did some individuals cause it to happen?'

"We're asking all the same questions."

Forensic experts have been appealing to relatives for objects such as hair brushes which may contain DNA samples of their missing loved ones.

A surgeon at Providence Hospital, Rhode Island, said he hoped that the majority of the injured would survive although many had serious smoke inhalation injuries.

Conflicting versions

Teams of police officers are collecting evidence among the charred remains of The Station club and studying a video filmed inside the club as the fire started.

Click here for more pictures of the fire

Great White and the club's owners, brothers Michael and Jeffrey Derderian, are in dispute over whether or not permission was given for the pyrotechnic display.

Governor Carcieri said investigators were also examining if the club had been overcrowded on the night.

He said that he estimated that about 350 people had been in a venue designed to hold 300.

It was the second nightclub tragedy in the US in less than a week.

On the eve of the 17 February Presidents' Day public holiday, 21 people were killed in a stampede at a Chicago nightclub.