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A fire that appeared to have been sparked by a gas explosion swept through a supermarket on the Paraguayan capital's outskirts on Sunday and killed at least 124 shoppers and workers trapped inside.
"They are still taking bodies out of the supermarket," Paraguay's Police Chief Humberto Nunez, told Reuters.
Fire fighters at the scene said the accidental explosion of gas canisters in a kitchen in the supermarket was the likely cause of the blaze.
Rescuers carried lifeless bodies out of the supermarket in their arms. Some bodies were black from smoke and burns. Nunez said the death toll could rise by 20 more people.
A local discotheque opposite the supermarket was being used to deposit dozens of bodies.
Dozens of ambulances and fire engines gathered outside the large supermarket. Plumes of black smoke rose from its roof.
A presidential spokesman told AFP the fire had been sparked by gas bottles that subsequently ignited a significant part of a supermarket within the shopping complex.
"There are a total of 119 dead at the moment, but that number could increase," the spokesman cautioned.
"We've tallied some 300 people injured," police spokesman Santiago Velasco said.
Officials gave no cause for the blaze, but said an explosion was heard moments before the fire broke out.
Paraguayan President Nicanor Duarte quickly arrived at the scene on Sunday accompanied by Interior Minister Orlando Fiorotto.
"It's a painful moment," President Duarte told reporters.
"The police and fire service are working to reduce the magnitude of this disaster," the president said.
An unidentified fireman at the scene told Channel 4 television that he had counted 75 bodies inside the shopping complex which included the Ycua Bolanos supermarket, another fireman said he had seen as many as 90 corpses.
Other witnesses told the television network that doors within the complex had been deliberately closed so that people could not leave without paying, and that this had worsened the tragedy.
Another fire officer told Channel 4 that the blaze, which has now been brought under control, likely started in the kitchen of a fast food outlet inside the shopping complex, most likely as a result of a gas leak.
The disaster appeared to have stretched the emergency services of this landlocked country, one of South America's poorest nations.
Local television showed fire fighters desperately trying to plug holes in leaking water hoses with the soles of their boots. Local media called on citizens to donate basic supplies, like gloves, to hospitals.

Copyright Reuters, 2004

Copyright Agence France-Presse, 2004

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