Rosario Nightclub FireRilke II · 1979
Incident summary for the Rilke II nightclub / whiskería fire in Rosario, Santa Fe Province, Argentina, where a fire was started at the venue entrance and escape was cut off.
Incident Overview
What Happened
A fire was deliberately started at the only entrance and exit of the Rilke II nightclub / whiskería in Rosario. Local sources report that gasoline was poured at the entrance and ignited.
The venue was a basement premises at Maipú 770, near Córdoba Street / Maipú y Córdoba. Once smoke and flames blocked the exit, people were trapped inside.
Victims are reported to have died mainly from asphyxiation after escape routes were cut off. Some people tried to reach windows or sheltered in bathrooms.
Location & Identity
Rilke II, Rosario
Venue: Rilke II / whiskería Rilke II / confitería bailable Rilke II.
Address detail: Maipú 770, near Córdoba Street, Rosario, Santa Fe Province, Argentina.
Incident name: Argentina, Rosario nightclub fire / Rilke II fire / Incendio de Rilke II.
See Disputed Details →Key Figures
Reported Impact
Chronology
Sequence of Events
Operational Details
Hazards Identified
Disputed Details
Conflicting Information
Several key details differ between contemporary international reporting and later Rosario/local sources.
The dataset date is 1979-12-06, but later local sources identify the fire as occurring in the early hours of 5 December.
Use 6 December 1979.
La Capital, Rosario por Conocer and the Santa Fe Hemeroteca index place it on 5 December 1979.
The 6 December date may reflect publication or dateline handling rather than the local incident date.
A single official final fatality count was not verified.
UPI, New York Times-style references and Working With Crowds report 16 deaths.
La Capital and Rosario por Conocer report 15 deaths. La Capital lists 15 named victims.
Later local reporting appears to use 15; contemporary international reporting used 16.
First reports did not confirm the cause. Later local sources describe the fire as intentional and started with gasoline at the entrance.
Cause was not immediately determined.
La Capital and Rosario por Conocer state gasoline was poured at the entrance and ignited; motive and responsibility remain disputed in some accounts.
Later reporting treats arson at the entrance as established, but the source file does not verify full court or police records as working public links.
Not Verified
Unverified Details
The following details were not verified from primary public records in the source file.
Source Material
References
References used in the source-research file, including contemporary reports, local retrospectives and incident chronology material.
All Document URLs
Source Links
Direct links to the listed source material.
