Fire at market kills at least 296, injures hundreds

Authorities were to question store owners as they investigate the fire.
ASUNCION, Paraguay (AP) -- Police were investigating survivor accounts that an exploding gas canister in a food court fueled a fire that killed at least 296 people in a crowded supermarket, in Paraguay's worst disaster in more than half a century.
Hundreds more were injured, many with serious burns, after the blaze swept through the multilevel Ycua Bolanos supermarket on the outskirts of the capital, Asuncion, while it was crowded with Sunday shoppers.
The heat of the blaze caused one floor to collapse, crushing dozens of cars in the parking lot as flames engulfed the motorists inside, police said. Badly burned bodies, some with twisted limbs, were whisked away as black billows of smoke rose overhead. Rescuers led away dozens of children found near the store's toy department.
"This is a moment of great anguish," said President Nicanor Duarte, who declared three days of national mourning. Classes were also canceled in Asuncion and people streamed into hospitals and clinics to donate blood.
Owners detained
Authorities said they had detained two owners of the supermarket for questioning and were looking into reports that some survivors claimed they were unable to open doors as they tried to flee. A statement released by the management denied that any doors were shuttered soon after the fire in order to prevent theft.
Police said they were also investigating survivor accounts the fire may have been fueled by an exploding gas canister in the food court area. But authorities said they still had not concluded what cause the blaze.
The government said late Sunday before an overnight halt to rescue work that it had confirmed 256 deaths. But Interior Minister Orlando Fiorotto said officials were still counting bodies.
Paraguay's Channel 9 reported that 340 bodies had been recovered and that hundreds were injured, citing unofficial accounts by rescue workers and police.
Officials said it was the worst tragedy in Paraguay since a failed military insurrection in 1947 left some 8,000 people dead.
Overnight, army troops somberly unloaded truckloads of wooden coffins at makeshift morgues. Tearful relatives filed in early today to identify bodies and funerals were being planned at cemeteries around the capital.
Meanwhile, at hospitals police held back sobbing relatives as the injured, some covered in gold foil blankets, were rushed into emergency rooms on stretchers.
One survivor who identified himself as Victor Catan told Argentina's TodoNoticias television network, that he lost his wife in the blaze but escaped with his young son by stumbling out in the dark.
"I managed to get out with son, but my wife didn't make it," Catan said, adding he was still searching for her.
Several levels of the multilevel supermarket were covered in soot, including a lower level parking garage where cars were crushed and burned.
An Associated Press photographer at the scene said hundreds of neighbors living nearby rushed to the scene, helping to carry bodies from the building as firefighters held water hoses. One woman, her face caked in soot, cried as she was carried away on the shoulders of a rescuer.
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