- Title: NETHERLANDS: CAFE FIRE CLAIMS NINE LIVES SO FAR
- Date: 2nd January 2001
- Summary: VOLENDAM, NETHERLANDS, (JANUARY 2, 20001) (REUTERS) 1. SLF CAFE; SCU SCU INVESTIGATORS AT BARRED WINDOWS (2 SHOTS) 0.12 3. SCU /MV ZOOM OUT PEOPLE STANDING ON QUAYSIDE NEAR SCENE; SLV BROADCAST VEHICLES OUTSIDE VOLENDAM TOWN HALL (3 SHOTS) 0.34 4. MV REGIONAL CHIEF PROSECUTOR THEO BOT SPEAKING WITH MEDIA 0.37 5. (SOUNDBITE) (English) REGIONAL CHIEF PROSECUTOR THEO BOT" The whole investigation at the moment concentrates itself at the moment on first finding what caused the fire and in the second place with regard to the necessary papers, which are necessary for the education of the cafe, itself." 0.59 6. MV BOT STANDING TALKING TO REPORTERS 1.03 7. (SOUNDBITE) (Dutch) FRANK IGSSELMUIDEN MAYOR OF VOLENDAM SAYING "There will be an extensive investigation. The results will be happen in full transparency. So I will not talk in advance about this." 1.08 8. SLV EXTERIOR; SCU TILT DOWN DUTCH FLAG AT POLICE STATION FLYING HALF-MAST (2 SHOTS) 1.19 9. SLV PAN HARBOUR OF VOLENDAM 1.31 10. LAS EXTERIOR CAFE WHERE FIRE HAPPENED TILT DOWN TO WOODEN BOARDS; SCU FLOWERS LAID AT ENTRANCE/ EXTERIOR CAFE; LAS BROKEN WINDOW, WHERE PEOPLE TRIED TO ESCAPE (BUT COULDN'T DUE TO BARS); SLV ZOOM IN ONE OF FIRE EXITS THAT WAS BLOCKED; SLV POLICE AT SCENE (7 SHOTS) 2.20 11. SCU INVESTIGATORS BEHIND BARRED AND BROKEN WINDOWS REMOVING DEBRIS 2.55 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
- Embargoed: 17th January 2001 12:00
- Keywords:
- Location: VOLENDAM, NETHERLANDS
- Country: Netherlands
- Reuters ID: LVAB1575RODTRMTXMY6M8GZE6JSQ
- Story Text: A 13-year-old girl has become the ninth victim of a
blaze that swept through a Dutch cafe packed with New Year
revellers on Monday night.
More than 180 people were hurt when the harbourside
cafe Het Hemeltje, meaning "Small Heaven", went up in
flames just half an hour after 2001 began. It was feared the
death toll could rise further, with several injured clinging
to life.
"I regret to inform you that another name must be added to
the list of the dead," Frank Ljsselmuiden, mayor of the
picturesque town of Volendam, 15 km (10 miles) north of
Amsterdam, told reporters on Tuesday (January 2).
Liesbeth Buijs, 13, died on Monday evening, he said. She
was the youngest of the seven male and two female victims, all
of them local residents in their teens or early twenties.
Ljsselmuiden said there would be an open investigation to
dtermine the cause of the blaze.
"There will be an extensive investigation. The results
will be happen in full transparency." he told reporters.
The fire, which officials called short but intense,
started at 12:30 a.m. on Monday (2330 GMT Sunday) in the busy
cafe on the third storey of a traditional timbered building.
Some of the injured suffered burns and lung damage from
inhaling smoke. Others were hurt when they smashed windows and
leapt into the dark to flee the flames.
Theo Bot, chief public prosecutor for the region, said it
should be known within days whether the cafe had complied with
safety regulations. Media have speculated that some fire exits
in the cafe were blocked. Bot said only one emergency exit was
used.
"The whole investagation at the moment concentrates itself
at the moment on first finding what caused the fire and in the
second place with regard to the necessary papers, which are
necessary for the education of the cafe, itself," he said.
Survivors said some cafe-goers had lit sparklers, which
ignited ceiling decorations and brought them tumbling onto the
mainly teenage revellers, many wearing flammable synthetic
clothing, according to a spokeswoman for Volendam council.
"People are saying sparklers were lit...but it's not clear
whether that was actually the cause of the fire. That's being
investigated," she said.
Volendam fire chief Jan Schouten said temperatures on the
cafe's ceiling reached 800 to 1,000 degrees Celsius. The
decorations stuck to the ceiling were mostly Christmas tree
branches, he said.
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