At least 100 people were killed and 131 others hospitalized in a nightclub blast that hit Russia’s Urals city of Perm late on Friday, local media reported.

Image from a video grab shows paramedics carrying a stretcher with an injured person towards an ambulance in Perm Dec. 5, 2009. At least 100 people were killed and 131 injured on Friday when a blast caused by fireworks ripped through a packed nightclub in Perm, causing a stampede, the Emergencies Ministry said. (Xinhua/Reuters Photo)

“Banks of lights were installed on the stage and firecrackers were launched. One of them hit the suspended ceiling, setting everything on fire right away,” a regional security official was quoted as saying by the Itar-Tass news agency.

“A stampede and panic began. Twenty-one people sought medical assistance for craniocerebral injuries,” said the official, adding that the death toll could rise.

An eyewitness said heavy smoke were gushing up immediately after the strong blaze, producing terrifying smell. “All the windows were broken, people carried young girls in their arms, all in burns,” she said, adding: “I will remember it for my whole life.”

Rescuers and investigators have begun to compile lists of people injured in the blaze to avoid confusion.

“Many people were taken to hospital without documents, as they left their personal belongings and handbags inside (the club),” the RIA Novosti news agency reported, citing a local emergencies service source.

Currently there were varied reports on casualties, all putting the number of dead over 90. Many people who have been hospitalized were in critical condition.

Vladimir Markin, a spokesman for the Investigative Committee at the Russian Prosecutor General’s Office, was quoted by the RIA Novosti news agency as saying that most of the victims died of burns and carbon monoxide poisoning. “In addition, a stampede occurred at the exit.”

Markin ruled out terrorist acts as a possible cause of the incident, saying the blast was triggered by a “violation of fire safety rules.”

The regional branch of the Federal Security Service (FSB) also ruled out the possibility of a terrorist attack, saying that bomb experts found no evidence of explosive devices.

Live TV broadcasts showed rescuers moving bodies with stretchers, with security and law enforcement personnel working at the scene investigating the cause of the blast.

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev early Saturday ordered Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, Emergency Situations Minister Sergei Shoigu and Prosecutor-General Yuri Chaika to investigate the cause of the blast.

Medvedev also asked regional governor Oleg Chirkunov to report on measures being adopted to help those affected, said the RIA Novosti.

A governmental commission was being created by Shoigu, who along with the health and interior ministers, would fly to the accident scene.

Putin has instructed to set up a governmental commission, led by Shoigu, to investigate the cause of the incident and help those injured and affected.

A criminal investigation into fire safety breaches, which is being personally supervised by Chaika, is underway.

The blast occurred exactly a week after a luxury train traveling from Moscow to St. Petersburg was derailed by a homemade bomb equivalent to 7 kg of TNT. The derailment was being investigated as a terrorist attack, the worst outside the North Caucasus in five years.

Perm, a city on the Kama River, is the capital of Russia’s Permregion.

VietNamNet/Xinhuanet