Dutch ministers resign in fallout over fatal airport jail fire

TWO Dutch ministers resigned yesterday after accepting blame for safety lapses in a fire that killed 11 illegal immigrants awaiting deportation in an airport jail last year.

Justice Minister Piet Hein Donner and Housing Minister Sybilla Dekker told parliament they had submitted their resignations to Queen Beatrix.

Ms Dekker acknowledged the casualty toll in the October 27 fire was worsened by the haste with which the airport facility was built, at a time when the public was worried about rising crime.

“Because of this public and political urgency, there was great pressure to expand the detention facility for drug smugglers,” she said.

“Disasters can never be excluded, no matter what rules you make.”

The ministers addressed the legislature hours after the blue-ribbon Safety Investigation Council released its investigation into the blaze, citing a long list of shortcomings at the airport detention area in preparing for disaster and dealing with the fire after it broke out.

The report said the government disregarded safety standards at the jail that contributed to the deaths of the illegal immigrants and suspected drug smugglers in the fire, apparently started by a prisoner.

The report could be a costly embarrassment for the Conservative government parties as the country prepares for its national elections on November 22.

The report also criticised hardline Immigration Minister Rita Verdonk for the treatment of the prisoners who survived the fire, some of whom were later deported before they could testify to the commission.

The report said there would have been “fewer or no victims to mourn if the fire security had received (proper) attention from the organisations involved.”

Council chairman Pieter van Vollenhoven said: “It’s not up to us to determine guilt.”