Fire swept through a nightclub in southern Brazil killing 245 people

A Brazilian nightclub where hundreds died in a fire Sunday was about 1,000 people over capacity at the time of the blaze, a fire official said.

"When I arrived, we analyzed the preliminary scene and saw that there was a 1,000 maximum capacity but we understood there were about 2,000 there," said Guido de Melo, a fire official.

The fire killed at least 245 people, many of whom apparently died from smoke inhalation, police said.