Brazil has declared three days of national mourning for 231 people killed in a nightclub fire in the southern city of Santa Maria. The fire reportedly started after a member of a band playing at the Kiss nightclub lit a flare on stage. Authorities say most of the victims were students who died of smoke inhalation. The first funerals are expected today. It is the deadliest fire in Brazil in five decades. Brazil postponed a ceremony due on Monday in the capital, Brasilia, to mark 500 days to the 2014 football World Cup. In Santa Maria, 30 days of mourning were declared. Authorities have released the names of the victims, after revising down the death toll from 245.
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