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WORLD
The Times, Gainesville, Georgia | gainesvilletimes.com
Sunday, December 9, 2018 5C
BRAZIL
Death toll rises to 14 after bank robbery attempts
Associated Press
RIO DE JANEIRO — Authorities said
Saturday two more people have died after
bank robbers attempted to carry out heists
in northeastern Brazil, bringing the death toll
to 14.
Brazil’s military police said that the heav
ily armed group of assailants took hostages
who were traveling on federal highway
BR-116 around 2 a.m. on Friday. The high
way leads to Milagres, a city of 30,000 inhab
itants in the state of Ceara.
Military police said the criminals were
planning to take the hostages to two banks
when they came under police fire and a
shootout ensued.
They said eight suspected robbers and six
hostages between the ages of 13 and 60 were
killed.
Lielson Macedo Landim, the mayor of
Milagres, told the G1 news portal Friday that
the hostages were executed by the criminal
group and not killed by police fire. He said
that two children were among the dead.
His account could not be verified.
Military police said Saturday that five of
the criminals died during the shootout. Two
others died a few hours later in a hospital
and an eighth suspect was killed in a separate
clash with police on the outskirts of Milagres.
Police said three others were arrested and
explosives, firearms, and three vehicles were
seized.
Public Security Minister Raul Jungmann
called the episode a “tragedy.”
“Ceara is reducing the rates of violence,
but unfortunately there are tragedies like
this,” the minister said Friday.
In a press release, military police said
that security forces managed to thwart the
assaults due to the “exchange of intelligence
information.”
Ceara is one of the most violent states in
Brazil, with 59 deaths per 100,000 inhabitants.
ANTONIO RODRIGUES I Associated Press
Forensic officers load the body of a victim killed in an attempted bank robbery, at an entrance
of a municipal hospital in Milagres, Friday, Dec. 7.
ITALY
Concert stampede at disco leaves 6 dead, 50 injured
BY DIANA MALTAGLIATI
AND FRANCES D’EMILIO
Associated Press
CORINALDO, Italy -
Teenagers panicked before
a rap concert at a jammed
Italian disco, setting off a
stampede that killed five
of them and a mother who
had brought her daughter
to the event, authorities
and survivors said. Fifty-
three people were reported
injured, including 13 in
very serious condition.
Several survivors said
panic spread through the
late-night crowd after
someone unleashed an irri
tant spray. Investigators
said they were checking
those reports.
Video on state TV
RaiNews24 showed scores
of teenagers rushing out a
door and surging toward
a low wall near an exit at
the Blue Lantern disco in
the central Italian town of
Corinaldo, near Ancona on
the Adriatic coast. The bar
rier then gives way and a
cascade of teenagers tum
ble over it, falling on top of
each other.
The bodies of the tram
pled victims were all found
near a low wall, Ancona
Firefighters Cmdr. Dino
Poggiali told Sky TG24
News. State radio said most
of the dead had their skulls
crushed in the melee.
The victims — three girls
and two boys — ranged in
age from 14 to 16 and the
mother who was killed was
39, said Col. Cristian Car-
rozza, commander of the
Ancona province Carabin
ieri paramilitary police.
“Close down the place,
convict someone. Who’s
going to give me back my
son?” Giuseppe Orlandi,
fighting back tears, told
reporters after he had
identified the body of his
son, Mattia, 15, in a hospi
tal morgue.
The stampede occurred
shortly after 1 a.m., less
than 30 minutes before the
concert by Italian rapper
Sfera Ebbasta was to begin.
Authorities said orga
nizers had sold far too
many tickets for the space.
Ancona Chief Prosecutor
Monica Garulli told report
ers that about 1,400 tickets
were sold but the disco was
only able to hold about 870
people.
Later, Premier Giuseppe
Conte, who visited the
scene, said the disco had
three rooms but inexplica
bly only used one for the
concert, and it only holds
469 people.
While prosecutors inves
tigate “the government
must ask itself what to so
that such tragedies must
never happen again,”
Conte said.
The woman who was
killed, Eleanora Giroli-
mini, had four children
and had accompanied her
11-year-old daughter to
the concert, her husband,
Paolo, told reporters. The
girl was treated for a knee
injury.
Outside the hospital
where the bodies were
brought, he lashed out at
the event’s organizers, say
ing that many at the event
were drunk.
“Four children now are
without their mother, and
one of them is still nurs
ing,” he said. “It was way
overcrowded and alcohol
abounded.”
ANSA said hospital doc
tors treating the injured
said some survivors had
burns apparently caused
by an irritant spray.
ANDREW MEDICHINII Associated Press
Carabinieri officers stand in front of the disco ‘Lanterna
Azzurra’ in Corinaldo, central Italy, Saturday, Dec. 8.
‘Citizens have
the right to safety
wherever they are,
in workplaces as
well as places of
entertainment.’
Sergio Mattarella
Italian president
An 18-year-old survi
vor, who left the hospital
in a wheelchair due to a
leg injury, was asked by
RAINew24 about the spray.
She replied that whatever
it was, it left her and oth
ers unable to breathe, and
people started to panic and
flee.
Doctors at Ancona’s
main hospital said the most
critically injured from the
concert, all between 14
and 20 years old, suffered
cranial and chest traumas,
while others had arm or leg
injuries.
Sfera Ebbasta wrote on
Twitter that he was “deeply
pained” by the tragedy,
thanked rescuers and
offered his “affection and
support” to the families of
the dead and the injured.
Out of respect to them, he
cancelled some promo
tional appearances.
The rapper added he
wanted everyone to “to
stop and think how dan
gerous and stupid it is
to use pepper spray in a
discotheque.”
Italian high schools,
which are usually open
on Saturdays, were closed
this weekend for the Dec.
8 national holiday, which
made it more likely for
teenagers to attend such a
late concert.
Fire commander Pog
giali said it was too early
in the investigation to know
if any safety violations at
the site might have played
a role in the tragedy. He
said when rescue workers
arrived, all the doors to the
disco were open.
Interior Minister Mat-
teo Salvini vowed that
responsibility would be
determined for “six broken
lives — whoever out of nas
tiness, stupidity or greed
transformed an evening of
partying into tragedy.”
Italian President Sergio
Mattarella demanded a full
investigation.
“Citizens have the right
to safety wherever they
are, in workplaces as well
as places of entertain
ment,” Mattarella said.
At the Vatican, Pope
Francis bowed his head in
silent prayer after he told
30,000 pilgrims and tourists
in St. Peter’s Square that he
was praying “for the young
people and the mamma”
as well as for the many
injured at the concert.
STEFANO PAGLIARINII Associated Press
Rescuers assist injured people outside a nightclub in Corinaldo, central Italy, early Saturday,
Dec. 8.
Qfixiatruces GaCming Gantedt!
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Greater Hall Chamber's Annual Legislative Forum
Thursday, December 13
7:30 am - 9:30 am
neW Lanier Technical College
Ramsey Conference Center
2535 Lanier Tech Drive in Gainesville
Governor Nathan Deal
Special Guest Governor Nathan Deal
and the Hall County Legislative Delegation
Butch Miller
49th State Senate
John Wilkinson
50th State Senate
Lee Hawkins
27th House District
Matt Dubnik
29th House District
Emory Dunahoo
30th House District
Timothy Barr
/ 03rd House District
$25 Chamber Members | $35 Non-Members | $350 Reserved Table
Reservations Required | Non-Refundable | Includes Full Buffet Breakfast
Gerri Collins: 770-532-6206 x 106 • gcollins@ghcc.com
Online: GreaterHallChamber.com/events
Open to the Public
Greater Hall
JACKSON
