A complete of 19 ambulances had been wanted to convey the stays of younger individuals to town morgue from the scene of 1981 Stardust catastrophe, Dublin coroner’s court docket heard on Friday.
Day 90 of recent inquests into the deaths of 48 younger individuals in a hearth within the north Dublin nightclub within the early hours of February 14th, 1981 heard from gardaí on obligation on the evening about their steps to protect the “potential crime scene” and implementation of the capital’s main accident plan.
Former Garda inspector Patrick Colleran instructed barrister Des Fahy, for households of 9 of the lifeless, he was in “general cost” of implementation of the most important accident plan from Dublin Citadel on the evening. Stage one of many plan was carried out at 2.06am, and escalated to stage two at 2.12am.
The fireplace, first seen contained in the ballroom at 1.40am had totally engulfed the venue by about 1.50am and was “below management” by 2.20am, the inquests heard.
Mr Colleran directed the senior officer on the scene to protect and safe the Stardust web site however couldn’t recall this officer’s title, he mentioned.
Mr Fahy requested him: “Did you give a path or order {that a} State pathologist or the State pathologist attend on the scene?” When he didn’t reply, Dublin coroner Dr Myra Cullinane requested him if he recalled the then State pathologist, the late Dr John Harbison.
“Sure, I bear in mind the title,” mentioned Mr Colleran.
“Was the State pathologist directed by you to attend?” requested Mr Fahy once more. “No,” he responded.
“Was there a provision within the main accident plan, so far as you knew, for the State pathologist to be directed or ordered to a selected scene by the guard in cost?” Mr Fahy requested.
“I’d assume that it was the officer in cost on the scene that may notify the State pathologist,” Mr Colleran replied.
“You didn’t do this?” requested Mr Fahy.
“I didn’t do, no, however I wasn’t on the scene.”
Mr Colleran mentioned at 2.33am info got here by means of that three our bodies had been discovered and “affirmation of the discovering of different our bodies was transmitted to the centre at intervals later”.
“A casualty info centre, with three particular phone numbers, was introduced in to make use of in Dublin Citadel to deal particularly with queries concerning the hearth, names of the injured, casualties and many others,” mentioned the witness. “The particular numbers had been handed to RTÉ with a request that they be broadcast to the general public in early information bulletins.”
[ Stardust: Inquests into the deaths of 48 people killed in the 1981 Dublin nightclub fire ]
Gardaí had been directed to hospitals to collect names and addresses of arriving injured, and ship these to the casualty info centre.
Thomas Vennard, a 39-year-old obligation sergeant in command of Coolock Garda station on the evening, bought a name at about 1.50am from Garda management a couple of “severe fireplace” on the Stardust. He co-ordinated the native Garda response from the station.
At 2.55am Inspector Michael Curran telephoned from the scene asking him to contact the then metropolis coroner, the late Dr Patrick Bofin, to hunt permission for the elimination of our bodies to town morgue.
Mr Vennard mentioned he instructed Dr Bofin gardaí on the scene had been requesting permission to maneuver the our bodies from the scene to town morgue. “He mentioned, ‘Sure, go forward,’ and he assured the morgue could be accessible.
“Dr Bofin was the one one that may give directions to take away the our bodies from the scene,” Mr Vennard added.
Requested whether or not he had been looking for permission to take away the our bodies from the location typically, or from the place they’d been discovered within the Stardust particularly, he replied: “All I used to be requested to do was make preparations to get our bodies moved to the morgue, whether or not they had been outdoors or inside.”
Bernard McMahon, a 38-year-old sergeant at Coolock Garda station on the time, was referred to as at dwelling at 2.30am and directed to the scene to help. Amongst his duties was to protect and safe the scene, and oversee elimination of our bodies into ambulances.
“I wasn’t ready for what I used to be to witness,” he mentioned on Friday. “[Bodies] had been skeletal … they’d their arms up within the air and I couldn’t decipher… a lot of the our bodies had been introduced out in twos however in some instances I didn’t know if there have been two or three our bodies because the our bodies had been fused as they had been being put within the ambulances.”
Patrick O’Connell, then a 22-year-old garda with the crime taskforce, was on patrol in a Garda van on Ellis Quay when directed to the Stardust at 1.55am. He arrived at 2.05am and assisted with the seek for and elimination of our bodies, “which we positioned alongside the wall” outdoors between exits 5 and 6.
At 3.30am he and three colleagues escorted the primary ambulances bringing our bodies to town morgue.
A complete of 19 ambulances, offered by Dublin Hearth Brigade, the Jap Well being Board, St Bricin’s Army Hospital, the Knights of Malta, Waverley ambulance service and Dublin Airport fireplace service, conveyed 39 victims’ stays to the morgue in Retailer Avenue. The ultimate ambulance arrived 4.05am. 9 additional victims died in hospital.
“We made area contained in the morgue by shifting trolleys to attempt to accommodate the massive quantity of our bodies that had been introduced in,” mentioned Mr O’Connell. “There have been ultimately [39] our bodies mendacity all through the morgue. A variety of military males then arrived and started to erect a tent within the yard of the morgue. I remained on obligation till 7am when had been relieved by members from Retailer Avenue.”
The inquests proceed.