Lima: Five people have died of suffocation after a tear gas grenade was detonated at a disco in the southern Peruvian city of Juliaca, near the border with Bolivia, the EFE news agency reported Friday.
The grenade went off early Thursday morning in the middle of the disco and in the panic that followed, five people asphyxiated while at least 10 others were injured, the police said.
The victims were between the ages of 17 and 20.
The reason why the tear gas canister was set off inside the crowded club is not known, but an investigation is under way.
Meanwhile, Radio Programas del Peru reported on its website that several residents of the neighborhood around the Boom disco tried to set fire to the building and rob the victims, but firefighters and police prevented them from doing so.
The official Andina news agency also reported that seven suspects were arrested for trying to steal the victims' belongings.
