'You couldn't see, you couldn't breathe', witness tells Stardust inquests

The Stardust inquests have heard how those trapped in the burning building splashed water from the toilets onto their faces as the smoke and heat grew more intense.

The hearings, at Dublin District Coroner's Court, continued today, on day 75 of the proceedings.

Forty-eight people died when a fire swept through the nightclub in Artane, Dublin, in the early hours of 14 February, 1981.

Deirdre Dames, who was 18 at the time of the fire., told the court how in the commotion, she ended up crawling into the ladies’ toilets where there were two others present.

"You couldn’t see, you couldn’t breathe," she said.

She told the court how they tried to put water on their faces, and at one point she put her head down the toilet to get relief.

Ms Dames said that was getting weak and she vomited.

She said she kept saying to get the windows open and told the inquests she could hear screaming from those on the outside saying, "Jesus, get them out".

"But they couldn’t do anything for us," she said.

Ms Dames said she remembered the steel plates "and the bars" that covered the windows.

"You couldn’t breathe. You thought, that’s it we’re gone. You couldn’t see a thing."

She described how one of them opened the door into the toilets and she said "close that door fast" because "the fire was coming in".

Ms Dames said it felt "like a lifetime" before a fireman opened the door and rescued her. She was given an oxygen mask and was taken over his shoulder.

Earlier, she told the court that when she first noticed the fire, she intended to go over to the table where she had been with her friends to warn them, but that she did not make it that far.

One of those friends she was with on the night, Margaret Kiernan, died in the blaze. She was 18.

'Like an oven' in the club - witness

The Stardust inquests also heard how a woman who was trapped in a backstage room, began praying for her life, thinking she was going to die as the fire progressed.

Louise Murray was 17 years old the time of the disaster.

In court today, she described how she went to an area behind the stage after she first noticed the fire.

She said the heat was "like an oven" and told how she lifted the cistern off the toilet and stuck her head down in an effort to get relief.

She also told the court there were pints of beer around her and how she kept "picking them up and swishing it around my mouth" and then spitting it out in an effort to clear her throat from the smoke.

"It felt like lumps of chewing gum, but hot," she said.

The court heard how she had given up hope and how she went into a "trance" thinking of her friends and family. She told the court how she and others began to pray aloud and as soon as they had finished reciting the 'Our Father,’ the door was "kicked in" by a fireman.

Ms Murray said that once outside she was given the "kiss of life" and put into an ambulance.

The court heard how she was treated for smoke inhalation and that she had no voice "for nearly a year".

Even after all those years, she said she was "still husky".

Witness says 'you couldn't breathe'

Helen Henvey told the inquests how she took shelter under a table in the club as burning pieces fell from the ceiling.

She said that she had third degree burns to most of her body, the most serious being to her head.

Ms Henvey was asked what if felt like when the pieces, which she said were the size of a hand, fell on her.

"Hot," she said.

She spoke too of the despair, and said as she lay on the floor: "At that stage, I didn’t care".

"The smoke was so thick, you couldn’t breathe," she said.

Ms Henvey also told the court that after she made it out of the Stardust, she rolled on gravel outside the club in an effort to stop the burning.

She was brought to one ambulance but it was full. Another ambulance brought her to hospital where she spent four months.

Ms Henvey said that she had been holding hands with the Keegan sisters and Mary Kenny as they initially made their way out but that they then lost contact.

Mary and Martina Keegan along with Mary Kenny lost their lives in the fire.

The inquests also heard from David Mulligan who escaped out of the burning building following a bouncer through the adjoining function room.

Mr Mulligan, who was 19 at the time of the fire, said that he initially headed for the main exit but there was a "scrum" of people there and then he "happened to see" a bouncer heading into a passageway to the adjoining Lantern Room.

He described how the bouncer did a "kung fu" type kick at the door which led into function room and that a stack of chairs on the other side of it fell over as the door opened.

"There was nobody behind me," he said.

Counsel Brenda Campbell, representing families of those who died, asked if the route he had taken could have served as an escape route for others.

"Yes, definitely," he said.

Mr Mulligan said that when he got outside and went to the main entrance it was closed.

He said there was a "handful" of people outside and after maybe a minute the doors burst open.

Earlier, he told the inquests that shortly before the fire he saw a bouncer locking the main entrance after he let a girl out through the doors.

Mr Mulligan said that different coloured "pieces of plastic" were coming down "flaming" from the ceiling.

Later, witness Joseph O’Reilly spoke about an incident one year before the fatal fire when parts of the ceiling over the west alcove "dropped four to six inches".

He was in the club at the time at a cabaret night.

Mr O'Reilly described hearing a "rumbling’ noise" and seeing three or four tiles coming off the ceiling.

He said "we all jumped" and got a fright and the performer stopped the show for a few minutes.

Mr O'Reilly added that no one was evacuated.