PERU: HOSPITALS IN LIMA HAVE STARTED THE LONG AND PAINFUL TREATMENT OF HUNDREDS OF BURNED VICTIMS OF THE INFERNO CAUSED BY FIREWORK DEALER
Record ID:
584699
PERU: HOSPITALS IN LIMA HAVE STARTED THE LONG AND PAINFUL TREATMENT OF HUNDREDS OF BURNED VICTIMS OF THE INFERNO CAUSED BY FIREWORK DEALER
- Title: PERU: HOSPITALS IN LIMA HAVE STARTED THE LONG AND PAINFUL TREATMENT OF HUNDREDS OF BURNED VICTIMS OF THE INFERNO CAUSED BY FIREWORK DEALER
- Date: 3rd January 2002
- Summary: (U7)LIMA, PERU (JANUARY 3, 2002) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL) 1. SLV EXTERIOR VIEW OF A LIMA HOSPITAL 0.03 2. SV BURNED VICTIM IS TENDED TO 0.12 3. CU OF BURNED VICTIM (3 SHOTS) 0.30 4. MCU (Spanish) ENRIQUE SANCHEZ, A VICTIM SAYING: "There were a lot of people. Everybody was running, but nobody could get ahead. People were trampling on each other as the fire advanced very fast." 0.41 LIMA, PERU (RECENT FILE) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL) 5. SLV/SV SCENES OF FIRE (2 SHOTS) 0.49 LIMA, PERU (JANUARY 03 2002) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL) 6. MCU (Spanish) SANCHEZ SAYING: "Without thinking about it twice, I knew my son had been left behind. I went back to the place where I found my wife, but I couldn't find my son. I was feeling very bad, fearing the worst. Then I saw a young child crying, I picked him up and realized he was my son."/CU OF HIS HAND (3 SHOTS) 1.10 LIMA, PERU (RECENT - DECEMBER 29 2001) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL) 7. SLV OF FIRE 1.14 LIMA, PERU (JANUARY 3 2002) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL) 8. MCU (Spanish) SANCHEZ SAYING: "Going into the gallery, I started to feel very bad, started to feel faint." 1.29 9. PAN OF OF HOSPITAL'S EMERGENCY ROOM 1.32 10. SV/CU OF BURNED VICTIMS (2 SHOTS) 1.43 11. MCU (Spanish) JORGE GUZMAN, A VICTIM SAYING: "There were lots of white and black smoke. We couldn't even see each other. We were bumping into each other, but we couldn't move away in all that smoke." 1.57 LIMA, PERU (RECENT FILE) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL) 12. SLV/SV OF FIRE AND FIREMEN IN ACTION (2 SHOTS) 2.02 LIMA, PERU (JANUARY 3, 2002) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL) 13. MCU (Spanish) GUZMAN SAYING: "People were screaming, desperate, kneeling, asking God for forgiveness and mumbling their last wishes. They embraced together without any strength left to try to escape." 2.19 LIMA, PERU (RECENT FILE) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL) 14. PAN BUILDING ON FIRE 2.23 LIMA, PERU (JANUARY 3 2002) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL) 15. MCU (Spanish) GUZMAN SAYING: "We jumped from a seven-story building to a two-story building, so we fell five stories. Some broke their legs." 2.37 16. PAN OF HOSPITAL EMERGENCY ROOM 2.41 17. MCU (Spanish) DOCTOR HUGO CHIABRA SAYING: "We have 17 patients affected in various degrees. We have some with 10, 20, 30, 40 and even 50 percent of body burns. Apart from that important factor, we have to consider the depth of their burns." 2.59 18. CU OF BURNED PATIENT 3.04 19. MCU (Spanish) DOCTOR CHIABRA SAYING: "For a few days, between cleaning and the actual skin graft, we have as an alternative using pig skin to cover the wounds." 3.14 20. SV PEOPLE TALKING INSIDE HOSPITAL 3.18 21. MCU BURNED PATIENT IN BED 3.26 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
- Embargoed: 18th January 2002 12:00
- Keywords:
- Location: LIMA, PERU
- Country: Peru
- Reuters ID: LVAAPZ15AESDFNZTO5KJH1T4TWHZ
- Story Text: Hospitals in Lima, Peru, have started the long and
painful treatment of hundreds of victims of last Saturday's
inferno, as the government launched a crack down on fireworks
dealers.
As the Peruvian government launched a crackdown on
fireworks dealers, hospitals in Lima have continued the long
and painful treatment of hundreds of burned victims from last
Saturday's (December 29, 2001) inferno in the capital city of
that South American country.
The nation was still reeling from the blast, ignited by a
fireworks sale demonstration near the presidential palace in
Lima.
Hospitals in the city were struggling to make their
patients as comfortable as possible and some of them gave
first-hand testimony of the horror they lived Saturday
evening. At least 300 people were killed by the explosion and
ensuing raging fire.
"Without thinking about it twice, I knew my son had been
left behind. I went back to where I had found my wife, but I
couldn't find my son. I was feeling very bad, fearing the
worst. I saw a child crying, I picked him up and I realized he
was my son," said burned victim Enrique Sanchez from his
hospital bed.
As the flames burned ever closer, Peruvian taxi driver
Jorge Guzman looked down and steeled himself to make the jump
from a seven-story building that he believed would save him
from the certain death of the smoking inferno around him.
Guzman, 34, broke his ankle in the five-story fall to
another rooftop, but miraculously survived.
Peru is still counting the dead and grasping at the causes
of last Saturday's fire that killed at least 300 people.
Officials, bound by health laws, have buried at least 150
unidentified bodies in numbered graves while recovery workers
continue to sift through charred wreckage.
As the number of people reported disappeared after the
fire spirals into the hundreds, grieving families have
demanded bodies be identified quickly, but officials say it
will take months to exhume corpses and carry out sophisticated
DNA analysis.
They say some people will never be found due to the blaze's
high temperatures, which firefighters say reached 2,000
degrees Fahrenheit (1,100 Celsius).
Some witnesses said that most people who died burnt to
ashes in the biggest tragedy Lima has seen regarding the sale
of fireworks, but not the first.
Enrique Sanchez's leathery, near-black hands ooze yellow
pus while his swollen fingers peer over the end of the white
bandages covering his charred arms.
But the mining transport worker says he was lucky because
he and his family survived the blaze.
Sanchez, 35, had gone to the popular commercial district
last Saturday to buy wedding rings for his wife and himself
when the blaze began. "People were trampling each other and
rockets were exploding," he said. His wife and 2-year-old son,
both suffering from more serious burns, lie in another ward.
Peru is struggling to discover who, if anyone, is to blame.
Some have alleged the police or city officials are responsible
for the tragedy due to lax enforcement of traffic and street
merchant laws as well as fireworks regulations.
President Alejandro Toledo, touring the scene hours after
the fire, declared a ban on imports, production and sale of
fireworks -- a key part of holiday celebrations in Peru.
Uncontrolled fireworks use has been banned in neighboring
Colombia's capital as well as throughout Chile.
City officials said more than 75 tonnes of fireworks have
so far been seized from the area, which has turned out to be a
veritable arsenal for illegally stored explosives. "We keep
finding more," said Lima Mayor Alberto Andrade, who was called
before Congress -- along with the ministers of health and the
interior -- on Thursday to testify on the tragedy.
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