The tragedy of the Atalayas nightclubs has impacted Colombia, not only because it is the South American country where Juan Esteban Ramírez, the owner of Fonda Milagros, was born, the place where thirteen people were burned to death, but also because well-known artists have performed in that room. in that country. This is the case of the vallenato singers Jean Carlos Centeno, winner of a Latin Grammy, and Jorge Celedón. A concert by Jessi Uribe, famous for his participation in the reality show La Voz, was even scheduled. This performance had to be suspended twice due to the Covid 19 health crisis.
Colombia has echoed what happened in Fonda Milagros and the Bluradio station, from the Caracol Televisión group, interviewed Juan Esteban Ramírez, a native of Manizales, a coffee-growing area in the Department of Caldas, in the mountainous region of the country, on Monday.
Ramírez assured that at the time the fire started there were “around 150 people” inside the establishment. When the first flames broke out, around 5:50 and 6:00 a.m., he added, they were about to close the nightclub, which is why there were about 150 customers left inside and although there was a blackout when the first flames appeared and the emergency light only lasted ” between 30 and 40 seconds,” he helped evacuate “as many people as possible.”
The origin of the flames
At first, Juan Esteban Ramírez assures that “the origin of the fire is still unknown”, but in the end he ends up confessing that “when the fire arrived at the nightclub, which came from the other side (of Teatre) it was so strong that it affected to the light” and this, he added, made evacuation difficult not because the layout of the premises had been “labyrinthine” but because they were in the dark.
Juan Esteban Ramírez assures that when the fire started there were around 150 people left inside the nightclub
“Everything was marked as it should be,” he insisted during the interview, ensuring that he began to evacuate people “following the required evacuation protocol. “It was very fast. The nightclub has two floors. The music stopped and we started helping the panicked people out. I go to the door. I come back and go up (to the floor where the booths were). “When the power went out you couldn’t see anymore.” At that moment, he adds, he was in the lower part of the premises. “If I was thirty seconds longer, it would have been impossible,” he said.
#drama #impacts #Colombia