CARACAS, VENEZUELA — At least 17 people died early Saturday after a tear-gas canister was set off inside a club in a middle-class neighborhood of western Caracas, officials said.
The victims, eight of whom were younger than 18, suffered either asphyxia or trauma to the body as hundreds of clubgoers stampeded to escape the fumes. Most of the present were teenagers who were celebrating their high school graduations at the private Social Club El Paraiso, according to government officials and security forces.
"A fight started at midnight, and one of the people activated a gas artifact that originated the stampede of more than 500 people that were there," Interior Minister Néstor Reverol said on state television.
He said seven people had been detained based on witnesses' accounts. The club has been closed down and the person in charge of it is also in custody.
"The Government of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela deplores this sad event and sends condolences to family members of the victims," Reverol said.
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