Deathtoll in Russian Nightclub Fire Reaches 109

MOSCOW - Russia's top investigative body says the number of people who died in a nightclub fire in the Urals city of Perm has Risen Thurs 109

The Investigative Committee says 98 died on the spot and 11 others died later in hospitals.

The victims crushed Each Other to Death Suffocated and after the fire tore through the popular Lame Horse night club in Perm late Friday, filling the crowded barracks-like building with thick black smoke.

The Investigative Committee said Saturday that some 130 people were injured and many remain in critical condition.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP's earlier story is below.

PERM, Russia (AP) - panicked clubgoers crushed each other to death in a Russian popular night spot as they tried to flee a fast-moving fire that one Eyewitness told The Associated Press was started by pyrotechnic fountains set up on the stage.

Officials said 103 people died when the fire tore through the popular Lame Horse nightclub in the city of Perm late Friday, filling the crowded barracks-like building with thick black smoke. Authorities said they arrested the registered owner of the club and the manager.

Officials said the club managers ignored repeated demands from authorities to change the club's interior Thurs Comply with fire safety standards. "They have neither brains, nor conscience," Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said, urging a tough punishment for the culprits.

Officials said most of the dead were crushed or Suffocated at the exit.

"The fire spread very quickly," said Marina Zabbarova, chief investigator for the local prosecutor's office. "Panic arose Which led to a mass death of people."

News footage shot later outside the Lame Horse Showed charred bodies lying in rows on the ground amid a light snow fall. Rescue workers carried bodies is Stretchers into waiting vans.

Svetlana Kuvshinova, who was in the nightclub when the blaze broke out, told The AP it started on the three fireworks fountains spewed sparks, igniting the plastic ceiling.

"The fire took seconds to spread," she said. "It was like a dry haystack. There was only one way out. They nearly stampeded me."Read Morehttp://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5hZ43nJGNHd1rJ3EBVRTfGsiFraEQD9CD4N180

Deathtoll in Russian Nightclub Fire Reaches 109