{"id":29799,"date":"2024-04-18T19:17:45","date_gmt":"2024-04-18T19:17:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/2024\/04\/18\/bodies-fused-together-in-death-how-stardust-was-seared-into-irish-consciousness\/"},"modified":"2024-04-18T19:17:45","modified_gmt":"2024-04-18T19:17:45","slug":"bodies-fused-together-in-death-how-stardust-was-seared-into-irish-consciousness","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/2024\/04\/18\/bodies-fused-together-in-death-how-stardust-was-seared-into-irish-consciousness\/","title":{"rendered":"Bodies fused together in death: How Stardust was seared into Irish consciousness"},"content":{"rendered":"
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It was a night of giddy teenage romance that suddenly turned into Ireland’s worst ever fire disaster. The Stardust inferno killed 48 young people, injured hundreds more and led to a decades-long search for answers and justice.<\/p>\n

Around 800 youngsters had made their way to the Stardust, a nightclub housed in a converted factory in the north Dublin<\/a> <\/strong>suburb of Artane, on the night of 13 February 1981.<\/p>\n

An evening of dancing and drinking on the eve of Valentine’s Day was promised. There was even a dancing competition.<\/p>\n

Seventeen-year-old Marie Kennedy from nearby Kilbarrack was among the partygoers. “Disco dancing was her really big thing,” recalled her sister Michelle.<\/p>\n

“She loved the Bee Gees, The Jackson 5, Leo Sayer and Abba. Her love of music and dancing was the reason she was in the Stardust on that night – she wanted to see the dancing competition.”<\/p>\n

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\n Image:<\/span>
\n George O’Connor was among the 48 young people who didn’t make it.
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George O’Connor was also 17. His mother ironed his shirt while George got his hair just right. His sister Donna remembers “critiquing his outfit and telling him no girl would ask him to dance dressed like he was”.<\/p>\n

The night of revelry was passing unremarkably until the small hours of Valentine’s Day.<\/p>\n

Suddenly, at around 1.40am, a fire was spotted in a sectioned-off area of the ballroom known as the west alcove.<\/p>\n

Witnesses remember hearing a bang<\/strong><\/p>\n

As the alarm was raised, the fire spread at a terrifying pace.<\/p>\n

The DJ halted the music and asked people to evacuate. Witnesses remember hearing a bang, and the power failed.<\/p>\n

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\n \"Family\n <\/div>
\n Image:<\/span>
\n Family members of victims of the Stardust tragedy along with supporters arriving at the Rotunda Foundation in Dublin for the 15th pre-inquest hearing in 2022. Pic: PA
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As panicked patrons fought to find exits, molten ceiling material showered down on them in the darkness, which was filling with noxious smoke and fumes.<\/p>\n

Survivors reported seeing exit doors chained and locked, adding to the chaos.<\/p>\n

The inquest heard that most of the victims were already dead by the time the first fire engines arrived at the scene. The firefighters found unimaginable carnage; heaps of bodies and body parts.<\/p>\n

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What was the Stardust disaster?<\/h4>\n<\/p>\n