A doorman in the Stardust nightclub crawled into the burning building to help pull out a young girl who was “completely on fire” and who “appeared to be dead” when she was brought out, an inquest has heard.
The jury in the Dublin District Coroner’s Court, sitting in The Pillar Room of the Rotunda Hospital, today heard the original statements of a number of unavailable witnesses. The statements were read into the record by members of the coroner’s legal team, during the inquest into the fire that killed 48 people when it swept through the Stardust nightclub in the early hours of February 14, 1981.
The statement of Patrick J. Murphy, a doorman at the Stardust, was read out by Mark Tottenham BL. Mr Murphy said that at 1.45am on the night, he was approached by a female who said: “They’ve started a fire in the corner,” and pointed to the far end of the partitioned area near the main bar.
