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A bittersweet story from CNN
I've just watched a touching piece of news about this incident on CNN, but for whatever reason I can only find it in Spanish. Because I believe what this bloke did something truly heroic and deserves to be known all around the world, here's the translation for those who don't speak taconese:
| quote: | A survivor of the fire in Brazil remembers the man who saved her
Rafael de Oliveria rescued Pamela Vedovotto in the Kiss nightclub, where 234 - including the man himself - died
Pamela Vedovotto reads in the magazine the name of the man who she dubs her guardian angel: Rafael de Oliveira, who protected her and grabbed her out of the nightclub in Brazil where a fire broke out last Sunday, and where 234 people died.
"I don't have words to thank him", Vedovotto told CNN in an interview that took place in her small house in the outskirts of Santa Maria.
"If it wasn't for him I'd be among all the people who died. He gave me a new life", said the youngster.
De Oliveira, a university student, is on the list of dead party-goers, published by the magazine.
Sunday, there were 2000 people in the nightclub, a number higher than its capacity. Vedovotto, a 19-year-old student, was there for a friend's birthday.
The fire broke out when one of the members of the group playing music set the place ablaze with pyrotechnics that reached the soundproof foam on the ceiling covering the whole establishment.
The audience ran towards the exit amidst the smoke, and Vedovotto herself tried to run but she was pushed against a metal bar that kept her from breathing.
"A girl fell under the bar and everyone kept pushing her... her neck snapped and she died right on the spot", said the student, sobbing. "Everybody cried 'God, take me out of here'".
A man, who she later found out was De Olivreira, grabbed her and took her outside, and he put her dress on her mouth so she wouldn't inhale the smoke.
Vedovotto says things got worse when they got to the exit. The security guards had no idea there was a fire, so they closed the doors shut, probably thinking they were trying to get away without paying, she mentioned.
"They re-opened the doors, but by then there were many people on the floor, yelling"
234 people died that night, most by smoke intoxication or trampled. The firemen had to tear the walls down in order to reach survivors and remove the bodies.
Since then the police has jailed the owners of the club and two of the members of the band whose pyrotechnics started the fire, according to the police.
Vedovotto said she feels no compassion for them. "Everybody is dead, everybody is dead because of them... they should rot in jail, they didn't lose anyone", she said.
But thinking about De Oliveira brings her the most anguish. Monday, Vendovotto went to the morgue where the bodies were taken, and there she saw her saviour, and met his parents.
"I asked her for forgiveness because I didn't keep him from going back... I could've grabbed him by the arm, I could've stopped him", she said.
Monday night thousands of Brazilians gathered in a square in the centre of Santa Maria in order to remember the victims and demand justice, the worst of its kind in Brazil for half a century". |
[Source (in Spanish)]
I wrote this in a hurry, so I apologise if something doesn't make sense (it's not easy to translate from a foreign language to another language that isn't your own  ), but I hope you can get the gist of it.
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Nice.
)
