11 dead in airport fire From: Agence France-Presse October 27, 2005
A FIRE swept through a detention centre at Amsterdam's Schiphol airport, killing 11 people who were awaiting expulsion from The Netherlands.
Police said that 15 people had been injured, including police and security guards, and that the death toll could rise. "The eleven who died were detainees," said Schiphol mayor Michel Bezuijen.
"They were illegals in the Netherlands," said a spokesman for the prosecutors' office, Martin Bruinsma.
It was not immediately clear what caused the fire, which broke out around midnight (8am AEST) and was brought under control around four hours later.
The cells at Schiphol airport are mainly used to lock up people carrying drugs for traffickers and people who have been refused entry to the Netherlands.
Advertisement: [Blocked Ads]One survivor told Dutch radio that the security guards failed to react when the alarm went off. "We remained locked inside. We were shouting at the top of our voices until we were hoarse," said the man, who was not identified.
He said the detainees were banging on the doors of their cells.
Mr Bruinsma however said the emergency services had acted "very quickly."
Bezuijen said the opening of the cell doors could only be done manually, one at a time.
Ten or 12 of the cells, in a wing of 24, were destroyed, he said.
The Schiphol mayor said that an independent inquiry would be set up, in addition to the regular judicial inquiry.
A European group for the rights of prisoners, EORG, said it would hold its own inquiry.
"The way the fire spread quickly from from one cell to another gives rise to questions," a spokesman for EORG told the Dutch news agency.
Press photographers allowed into the site said the roof had collapsed, but walls were only slightly damaged.
Some 350 people were detained in the cells late on Wednesday when the fire broke out, including 43 in the part of the building affected.
Some of the detainees were able to return to the cells, while others were transferred to a nearby prison near the city of Utrecht.
Three of the detainees were arrested when they tried to escape, but the spokesman for the prosecutors' office said it was not clear if others had succeeded in fleeing as the head count was completed.
The 15 injured comprised six detainees, six police officers, two security guards and an official in charge of the centre.
Four remained in hospital Thursday morning, one of them in a serious condition
