(CNN) — At least 17 people, including eight minors, were killed Saturday after a partygoer detonated a tear-gas canister setting off a stampede inside a nightclub in Caracas, Venezuela, authorities said. At least 11 victims died of asphyxiation, according to an initial report by the National Police obtained by CNN. Five others were injured, including two who were underage, authorities said. Some 500 students were packed into the club for a “pre-graduation” party, according to Venezuelan Interior and Justice Minister Nestor Reverol. Speaking to Venezuela’s state-run TV, Reverol said a brawl broke out early Saturday, and “one of the people involved detonated a tear-gas canister that caused the stampede.” Reverol said seven people, including two minors, have been detained. According to Reverol, eyewitnesses said one of those minors was responsible for setting off the tear-gas canister. Officials are investigating and have ordered the club to shut down. They also arrested the club owner over failure to have measures to ensure no weapons or ammunition entered the club, as required by law. Reverol said that Venezuela’s government “deplores this unfortunate event” and offered “words of condolences to the families of the victims.” Journalist Stefano Pozzebon reported from Caracas, and CNN’s Marilia Brocchetto wrote and reported from Atlanta. CNN en Español’s Osmary Hernandez and Alejandra Morales contributed to this report.<doc-sep>MEDELLIN, Colombia — At least 17 people were killed in a stampede during a graduation party at a nightclub in Caracas, the Venezuelan capital, authorities said on Saturday. Néstor Reverol, the country’s interior minister, said on state television that the deaths occurred in the early morning when a fight broke out at the nightclub, El Paraíso, and someone set off a tear-gas canister. “This caused a stampede of more than 500 people who were in the club,” Mr. Reverol said. Among the dead were eight minors, he said. Many victims had gathered for a party ahead of their graduation, Mr. Reverol said. Seven suspects were arrested, state television reported. The club has been closed and its owner arrested on suspicion of not checking patrons for weapons, which is a crime.<doc-sep>At least 17 people have been killed in a stampede in a Caracas nightclub in Venezuela after a person activated a tear gas grenade inside, Venezuela's interior minister Nestor Reverol says. More than 500 people were at a party at the Los Cotorros club in the middle-class El Paraiso neighbourhood when the device went off at about 3:00am during a fight between several people, causing a stampede towards the exits, Mr Reverol said on state TV. Eleven people suffocated to death when the gas filled the club's confined space, said Noris Villanueva, an autopsy assistant at the local Perez Carreno Hospital, who examined their bodies. It was not clear how the other six died. Eight of those who died were younger than 18, Mr Reverol said, and five people were injured. Mr Reverol said authorities had arrested seven people and the investigation was ongoing. "The government of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, led by President Nicolas Maduro, deplores this unfortunate event," he said. "We send our condolences to the families." Venezuela's Interior Minister Nestor Reverol said authorities had arrested seven people and the investigation was ongoing. ( Reuters: Carlos Garcia Rawlins, File The club, a two-storey red brick building, was empty later on Saturday morning (local time) and there was no police presence outside. "We haven't received a response from anybody, neither from the police nor the doctors," Nilson Guerra, the father of one victim, said at the hospital. He only knew his 19-year-old son Luis had died because he had seen him in the morgue. Another son of his had been hospitalised. Homicide rates in Venezuela have shot up during the country's spiral into economic crisis and political meltdown and many Caracas residents refuse to go out at night due to security fears. There were almost 27,000 violent deaths last year, making Venezuela proportionally the world's second most murderous nation after El Salvador, according to a local crime monitoring group. The homicide rate in Caracas alone was 104 per 100,000 people, the Venezuelan Observatory of Violence said. Authorities say non-governmental groups inflate figures to create paranoia and tarnish Maduro's socialist Government. Reuters<doc-sep>epa06814280 Relatives of victims of the stampede in the Social Club El Paraiso react in front of the headquarters of the Scientific Police (Cicpc), in Caracas, Venezuela, 16 June 2018. Interior Minister of Venezuela Nestor Reverol confirmed that at least 17 people were killed after a tear gas canister was set off triggering a stampede at a nightclub as hundreds tried to escape the fumes. Most of the clubgoers were teenagers celebrating high school graduation. EPA-EFE/CRISTIAN HERNANDEZ<doc-sep>
A stampede at a nightclub in Caracas, Venezuela has left at least 17 people dead, including eight minors, according to CNN. Approximately 500 people were at the Los Cotorros nightclub on Saturday for a pre-graduation party when a fight broke out at 3:00am. It is being reported that a partygoer at the venue then detonated a tear-gas canister inside, which apparently sparked panic and a stampede ensued. The initial report by the National Police states that at least 11 people died from asphyxiation when the gas filled the venue. It is not clear how the other six died. Eight of those who died were younger than 18 and another five people were injured in the tragedy. Venezuela’s interior minister Nestor Reverol releases a statement in response: “The government of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, led by President Nicolas Maduro, deplores this unfortunate event. We send our condolences to the families.” Reverol also said that seven people, including two minors, have been detained in relation to the attack. An eyewitness confirmed that one of the minors detonated the tear-gas. An investigation is ongoing and officials have ordered the club to be shut down. The venue owner was also arrested for failing to have proper measures to ensure no weapons entered the club. In the past stampedes have led to tragedies at Falls Festival in 2016 that left more than 80 people injured and Love Parade in 2010 that left 21 people dead and more than 500 injured. Last year a trial was ordered over the Love Parade deaths, which began in December 2017. Harrison is Mixmag's East Coast Editor. Follow him on Twitter here