Dutch bar erupts in New Year blaze

Five other people are critically ill and not expected to survive the next 24 hours, doctors at the Beverwijk burns centre said. Another five were also fighting for their lives. About 60 of the injured were in hospital in other towns. Specialist clinics for burns in the Netherlands were unable to cope with the influx of patients. Some had to be flown to Aachen in Germany and the Belgian cities of Brussels and Antwerp.

The fire broke out as about 500 guests, most of them young, celebrated the start of the New Year shortly after midnight on the top floor of a three-storey building next to a dyke. The flames rapidly devastated the bar Het Hemeltje (to the small heaven). Surviving guests told of the panic as screaming guests swarmed down the stairs, broke windows and leapt out into the dark on to the street below in an effort to avoid the flames and smoke. Witnesses said the lights suddenly went out and panic broke out as the guests desperately tried to find the exits. Some were trampled by those behind. The scenes in front of the blazing building were of chaos and suffering. Young people in a state of shock, many with faces blackened by smoke, their clothing torn and some with visible burns, ran around aimlessly. Volendam mayor Frank Ijsselmuiden said the dead - seven men and one woman - all came from Volendam. All were aged between 16 and 22. Some eyewitnesses said that fire exits had been blocked but others disputed this. Ijsselmuiden told a press conference that one emergency exit was open. He could not comment on reports that other were locked.

Ijsselmuiden said that dried pine needles being used as Christmas decorations on the ceiling had caught fire and fallen on the guests. In December the catering industry had been told by the local administration to treat potentially combustible Christmas decorations with non-flammable material but he was unable to say whether inspectors had checked to see whether this had been done. Neither could he say what the cause of the fire might have been. One of the survivors said: "It was horrible, horrible. In five seconds it was all over." Smoke soon filled the building and it took rescue workers about four hours to take the injured to various hospitals throughout the Netherlands.

Neighbours in the area rushed to the aid of the survivors. "They took the injured into their homes and placed them under showers," one eyewitness said. Queen Beatrix and the Dutch government sent messages of condolence to the families. Police and fire inspectors sealed off the building and were investigating.

(dpa)