The death toll from a supermarket blaze in Paraguay jumped to 423 on Tuesday and officials said a guard received orders by radio during the fire to lock the exit doors, apparently to stop people leaving without paying. The state prosecutors office, which announced the death toll, said another 139 people were reported missing in Sunday's fire and 451 people were injured. A judge grilled the owner of Ycua Bolanos, his son and four guards on whether the doors had been locked immediately after the fire broke out to stop people leaving without paying. He was due to decide later on Tuesday whether to bring murder charges. Many survivors said the doors were locked, and in one case welded. State prosecutor Edgar Sanchez said one of the guards had said he received orders to close the doors over radio, but did not know who had given them. "The guard ... said in his statement that he received the order by radio to close the doors and this he did," Sanchez said. The supermarket owner had denied that they ordered the doors closed. Officials say a gas explosion near the food court caused the blaze that swept through the packed supermarket in a working-class neighborhood on the outskirts of the capital, packed with Sunday shoppers. Paraguay, a country of 6 million, called the fire its worst tragedy since a 1930s war with Bolivia that killed thousands.
