At least 80 people died and more than 200 were injured on Saturday in a fire sparked by an explosion in a fireworks store in a historic district in Lima, police said.
"Approximately 80 people have died, and there are more than 200 injured in different hospitals across Lima," one police official told Reuters.
The fire was largely contained by midnight (midnight EST/0500 GMT), four and a half hours after it started.
Charred bodies were piled up on debris-strewn streets in the popular shopping area as firefighters worked to extinguish the flames. Peru's chief firefighter confirmed that 60 people had died in the blaze.
"We have 440 firefighters working; this is horrible. There are some 60 dead in the road and we don't know how many inside," chief firefighter Tulio Nicolini told reporters.
President Alejandro Toledo declared two days of national mourning as he rushed to Lima from a visit to northern Peru to oversee recovery efforts.
Firefighters said the fire was sparked in a fireworks store -- as shoppers stocked up ahead of New Year's festivities -- and had destroyed at least three buildings packed with stores.
Radio reports said numerous people, trapped on rooftops by the blaze, were calling in vain for help.
"I tried to help, but unfortunately lots of people stayed to try to save their belongings and they died. I tried to enter to get a handicapped person out but it was too late to do anything," said one merchant with tears in his eyes.
People seeking family members missing after the fire, meanwhile, made emotional calls to radio stations.
Nicolini, who said it was the worst blaze he had seen in 40 years, asked for assistance from firefighters from other parts of Lima due to water restrictions in the area.
Firefighters said the temperature inside the buildings could have reached at least 1,100 degrees F (at least 600 degrees Celsius).
"It's a terrible disgrace. We should ban fireworks," Interior Minister Fernando Rospigliosi said from the scene.
"President Alejandro Toledo deeply regrets the loss of life and declares the 30th and 31st of December national days of mourning," the government said in a statement.
The historic center of Lima, the seaside capital of about 8 million people, has been designated a world heritage area by the United Nations.
(China Daily December 30, 2001)
