Interrupted Revelry

It was a grisly weekend elsewhere in Europe too. Alcala 20, a popular Madrid discotheque, was still crowded with some 500 revelers spending their Christmas bonuses early Saturday morning when the plastic curtains above the stage caught fire. Within minutes a fireball engulfed the basement dance hall, trapping many people in the cloakroom. Others suffocated or were crushed to death as they stampeded up the stairs through thick clouds of smoke toward exits that had been blocked to prevent more people from entering. The police could not immediately determine how the blaze had started. At least 78 people were killed and 25 injured. Said a Spanish newsman, who was among the first to view the horror: "I have only recently returned from Lebanon. Even there I saw nothing like this."

In Amsterdam, a gunman carrying a can of gasoline burst into Casa Rosso, a gambling and sex club in the city's red-light district. As horrified guests watched at gunpoint, the man, a former employee, doused the floor and stairs with gasoline. He then shot his pistol into a fuel can, instantly setting the place ablaze. Patrons mobbed exits and jumped from upper-story windows as the fire consumed four 17th century row houses in the brothel and casino complex. The toll at week's end: 13 dead, 25 injured. This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so viewer discretion is required.