The Swedish Prime Minister, Mr Goran Persson, fought back tears - the horror of the tragedy had begun to sink in when he saw children's boots scattered around in the burnt-out disco.
"It was all burned out, with only a skeleton left," Mr Persson told reporters yesterday after visiting the scene where at least 67 young people died in a fire that engulfed their Halloween party.
"On the floor there were shoes and boots, just like our own children have. It was only then that you could really understand what happened," a visibly shaken prime minister said.
Parents and young people gathered outside the building, laying flowers and lighting candles in memory of those who died on Thursday night. The crowd had swollen to hundreds by midday as families bearing flowers arrived on the scene, while reporters set up camp around the site.
The red-brick two-storey building in a commercial area of the port city of Gothenburg was cordoned off with police tape.
Onlookers stared up at the burnt-out row of windows on the upper floor, 10 metres up, from which many youths had jumped to save themselves from the flames, many breaking their legs.
"We will always remember you. We're thinking of the relatives and the pain they feel now. We feel this with you," read a card attached to a bunch of flowers, which a tearful mother and her teenage daughter placed on the pavement.
The fire started in the crowded disco at 11.43 p.m. and spread quickly. Officials said it appeared to be an accident started by an electric spark.
"It probably took less than 30 seconds for them to become unconscious from the poisonous fumes and then they died," Dr Per Ortenwall, who is in charge of the survivors, said. "Many were then burned."
Most bodies could still not be identified because they were so badly burned, Swedish officials said. Police said the death toll could rise further as 57 of the injured were in intensive care.
Most of the young people died inside the 10 m by 40 m premises. One died in hospital. A further 162 were injured. Many of the victims were from immigrant families from Macedonia, Bosnia, Yugoslavia and Iran.
"I was outside and heard bangs so I ran upstairs and saw smoke and people burning in the windows. Some jumped out of the window and broke their legs," Mr Heresh Daneshvar said. "I helped two out but there was so much smoke."
Fire extinguishers in the club were not used, police said. - (Reuters)
In a letter to the Lord Mayor of Gothenburg, Mr Joran Johansson, the Lord Mayor of Dublin, Senator Joe Doyle, said that Dubliners felt a "special empathy" with those affected by the tragedy, and offered counselling assistance.
He said on behalf of the people of Dublin, he wanted to "extend our deepest sympathy to all those bereaved and injured in the horrific blaze in Gothenburg.
"As Dubliners we undoubtedly feel a special empathy with all those affected because of our similar fire tragedy. In 1981, 48 young people from Dublin lost their lives in a fire at a discotheque called the Stardust.
"We know the shock, grief and despair felt by the citizens of Gothenburg as you attempt to come to terms with this traumatic event," Mr Doyle wrote.
"Following our own tragic experience, Dublin city would be pleased to offer any assistance it can, especially in the area of posttraumatic stress counselling in the immediate aftermath of this horrific tragedy," the Lord Mayor added.