Russia Mourns Victims of Lame Horse Night Club Horrific Fire

Victims of the Lame Horse night club fire – 112 people – are going to be buried in the city of Perm today, December 7. The whole country is mourning the victims on December 7, 2009, in accordance with the decree signed by President Medvedev, RIA Novosti news agency reports.

Photo: Russia Mourns Victims of Lame Horse Night Club Horrific Fire

A court in Perm authorized the arrest of one of the four suspects on the case – the director of the pyrotechnic company, which provided the fireworks for the deadly party in the club. Three other suspects will be arrested soon too. The names of the suspects will not be exposed to the public to avoid the lynch law, a local official said.

Click here to see photos from the tragedy

“Some relatives of those who were killed in the fire demanded the delivery of the people guilty of the tragedy. The people are grieving, and they are ready to lynch the people responsible for the fire,” an official told Interfax.

Only the president has the right to declare the national mourning day. When making such an announcement, the president takes account of the reaction of the general public to a tragedy and the number of victims.

One of the dancers, who was entertaining the audience during the night, when the fire occurred, said that she was not worried at all, when the fire started on the suspended ceiling.

“I saw some sparks and then a small fire burning on the ceiling, but I was not worried at all. I thought that they would bring a fire extinguisher and put it down in a minute. I then thought that me and other dancers should take a minute and go out for a breath of fresh air. But I thought it all wrong. Me and the girls rushed out of the club through a back door. I could smell the smoke and could hear the people screaming. I remember I thought that some of them would die, but I could not think that there would be so many victims,” a dancer, named as Maria told the Komsomolskaya Pravda newspaper.

“All dancers ran out of the club. We had to stay outside in our miniskirts and tops. Someone threw a blanket over me. I then started to come to my senses. I recollected that I forgot my purse with my passport and other documents in the club. I wanted to run back inside, but someone stopped me,” the dancer said.

Flags will fly at half-mast across Russia on December 7; national TV and radio channels will cancel entertaining programs.

During the Soviet period, the national mourning would be announced in connection with the death of Soviet leaders only – Lenin, Stalin, Brezhnev, Andropov and Chernenko. The tragic death of first man in space and national hero Yuri Gagarin became the only exception from the rule. There was no national mourning in the USSR after the Chernobyl nuclear disaster and the sinking of the Komsomolets submarine.

The previous mourning in Russia was announced after the armed conflict with Georgia in South Ossetia, when many local residents and a number of Russian peacemakers were killed.