Article updated: 1/27/2013 8:34 PM

Deadly smoke, lone blocked exit: 230 die in Brazil

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Firefighters work Sunday to douse a fire at the Kiss Club in Santa Maria city, Rio Grande do Sul state, Brazil. Officials say the fire broke out at the club while a band was performing.

Associated Press

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Flames raced through a crowded nightclub in southern Brazil early Sunday, killing more than 230 people as panicked partygoers gasped for breath in the smoke-filled air, stampeding toward a single exit partially blocked by those already dead. It appeared to be the world's deadliest nightclub fire in more than a decade.