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Michele Cardoso, a 20-year-old medical student, was one of 231 people who perished in Sunday's tragic nightclub fire at KISS in Santa Maria, Brazil. At 3:20a.m., about 50 minutes after the fire reportedly began, Cardoso used her cell phone to post a Facebook message that read, "Fire at KISS help."
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According to The Daily Mail, Cardoso had a part-time job in the club's cloakroom, and had been at the party with her sister and boyfriend, both of whom died too.
"I never imagined that it was serious when I first saw her asking for help on Facebook in the early hours, until I woke up with a message from my mom telling me what had happened," one Facebook friend wrote.
Cardoso's father, Sandro, posted an angry message to the club's owner, Elissandro 'Kiko' Spohr, telling him to leave Santa Maria.
"KIKO you killed my two daughters I think it would be a good if you moved from santa maria you don't have any idea of my pain this message goes to you and your family because the pain I'm feeling is inexplicable," he wrote.
Most of the Sunday's victims died of smoke inhalation, according to officials, who also said that people inside the nightclub couldn't escape through the building's one available fire exit.
"It was sheer horror. The emergency exits did not work, and then I lost my friend in the confusion. Then a girl died in my arms. I felt her heart stop beating," a club attendee told a Brazilian TV station.
