Many of the victims who had been playing cards in the Associação Cultural, Recreativa e Humanitária de Vila Nova da Rainha were crushed in the panic.

An official told Lusa that “in the investigations directed by the Viseu district DIAP [Department for Penal Investigation and Action], the Office of Public Prosecutions is being aided by the Polícia Judiciária” police force.

On Monday the mayor of Tondela, José António Jesus, told Lusa that the club was set up in 1979, since when various bits of construction work had been carried out on the building.

According to Jesus, the building was adapted to serve as the association’s headquarters in 1992, for which a works licence was issued.