Survivors of Club Blaze Relive Tragedy

WEST WARWICK, R.I., Feb. 24, 2003 -- The families of those who died in the fire at a nightclub performance by the band Great White are mourning their loss while survivors are trying to cope with the horrific memories.

Family members of the dozens of victims who couldn't escape were allowed to walk up to the charred rubble of The Station nightclub on Sunday to pray and say goodbye.

Among those who died in the tragedy was 25-year-old Bridget Sanetti, a teacher of troubled children. She was there with friends and her uncle, Rick Sanetti. He had just returned from the men's room as the fireworks were igniting the stage, and he realized it was going to be serious.

‘Follow My Voice’

Sanetti ran to the spot where his friends had been, but his niece was not there. His friend Sean said she had gone to the bathroom. Sanetti and two others started heading for the exit.

Outside, Sanetti ran to several windows and exits while shouting for Bridget. He burned his arms and hands while trying the help others get out, but he could not find his niece.

"I went back around the front of the building, smashed out the front windows and began calling her to the windows, and I just was trying to give her a place to walk to, to follow my voice," Sanetti said today on ABCNEWS' Good Morning America. "I feel a lot of remorse, you know. I wish so much I was able to get to her."

‘She Just Went for the Fun’

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Bridget's mother, Annmarie Swidwa, said her daughter wasn't a fan of the band Great White. "She just went for the fun and to be with her family and friends," she said.

The band was just getting into its first song Thursday night when sparks from the pyrotechnics display ignited foam tiles in the ceiling and quickly spread flames over the crowd of more than 300. Fire officials said the entire building was engulfed in three minutes.

The death toll from the tragedy is 97, and 80 survivors remained hospitalized today, with about two dozen in critical condition.

Swidwa said her daughter was the sort of person who was always reaching out to others, and empathized with troubled people, from alcoholics and drug addicts to homeless people. She taught children who had been kicked out of other schools.