The New Year's day fire which ripped through a Dutch disco killing at least nine revellers and injuring 130 is expected to claim 10 or more victims, bringing the final death toll to over 20. A doctor treating victims in a hospital burns unit said yesterday evening that at least 10 of the 30 critically injured, most of them teenagers, were so badly burnt that their chances of survival "hang by a thread".
"Fifteen of the 30 very seriously injured victims are so badly burnt that we really hold out very little hope for them, though of course everything possible is being done," added Dr M. Hunfeld of the Beverwijk burns unit of north Holland to where some of the worst casualties were brought.
The scale of the fire tragedy was so great that all burns units in 12 hospitals around the country were filled and some of the most badly injured had to be taken by helicopter to hospitals in Germany and Belgium.
Minutes after the Dutch had finished celebrating the New Year with firework displays, which were toned down in some parts in memory of the 20 victims of a warehouse fireworks explosion in the eastern Netherlands town of Enschede last May, tragedy struck again.
The Little Heaven disco on the upper floors of a complex overlooking the harbour in Volendam was packed with up to 500 teenagers, some as young as 14. The fire broke out at about 12.30 a.m. yesterday. Survivors described scenes of blind panic as a blast was heard, the lights went out and smoke engulfed the three storey building. Many of the injured were hurt as they smashed windows and leapt in the dark from the third floor to escape.
Many of those who died at the scene were victims of the panic, falling and being trampled on. Firefighters quickly got the blaze under control and, while badly damaged the building was not destroyed.
"It was like warfare, people were screaming and trampling over each other to get out" said Mr Henk Jong who ran out of a bar around the corner to help a woman with bloodied hands who was looking for her children. Survivors told how one of the barmen threw customers down the stairs in an effort to save their lives before being overcome by smoke and collapsing and dying in the burning third floor cafe.
Mr Jan Smit (20) who escaped with facial injuries said: "I was completely disorientated; I didn't know what was happening, we had all drunk too much; the next thing I knew I was being pushed and shoved and I fell over all these people and landed downstairs; I staggered out onto the street and only then realised what had happened."
The Volendam police spokesman, Mr Wietse Peters, said that the blaze which set Christmas decorations alight throwing flaming pieces on to dancers' clothing might have been started by a fire cracker which a customer had exploded on the floor. Customers remembered that fire crackers and bangers had been brought into the disco earlier. The panic turned to mayhem because all but one of the emergency exits had been blocked.
As questions were being asked about how a third floor disco could be allowed over two floors of cafes in a old wooden building in the town - one of Holland's most popular touristic attractions - the mayor said an official who is to be solely responsible for enforcing the laws on fire regulations and underage drinking in Volendam has been appointed but he has not yet taken up his duties.
According to the Dutch Institute for Safety and Standards fire safety checks on discos and cafes in the Netherlands have been inadequate due to under staffing and an inquiry into the fire has been demanded.
The scale of the tragedy has horrified the closely knit fishing village, a Catholic enclave on the banks of the staunchly reformed Protestant Ijselmeer inland sea coast. Townspeople packed special church services.
Ms Rina Zwaarthoed, a local woman said everyone in the village either had a relative or knew one of the victims. "Six nephews and nieces of myself and my husband are among the victims," she said. One of the boys, Jan who is 20, is in a critical condition and has been moved to another hospital. "It is a nightmare, we don't know if he will pull through. Another nephew who escaped with a head wound after being walked on lay there beside two friends of no more than 15 or 16 who were dead."
In a message to the people of Volendam Queen Beatrix said she was stunned by the tragedy and offered her condolences.