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Foundation asks that club fire site not be ‘Pokemon Go’ stop

PROVIDENCE, R.I. – The foundation building a memorial at the site of a 2003 nightclub fire that killed 100 people has asked that the site be removed as a stop in the game “Pokemon Go.”

Gina Russo, president of the Station Fire Memorial Foundation, told The Associated Press on Tuesday that the group has sent two emails to the game’s creators asking for the Pokestop to be removed.

“This is disgusting,” said Russo, who survived the fire with severe injuries. “As of this morning, we have not gotten a response from them.”

The site is surrounded by a chain-link fence during construction on the memorial, which is scheduled to open in October . The Pokestop can be accessed from outside the fence.

Some other survivors and family members of those killed told the AP on Monday that they were outraged .

Game creator Niantic hasn’t responded to multiple messages from the AP seeking comment.

The Feb. 20, 2003, blaze started when pyrotechnics for the band Great White set fire to flammable foam placed as soundproofing inside The Station nightclub. Many clubgoers were trapped and killed. More than 200 people were injured.

Some of the family members said they were also upset that the game incorrectly described the fire as having killed 200 people, double the actual number.

Pokestops have been removed from the atomic bomb memorial park in Hiroshima, Japan, the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington and other sites.

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