Childers: Fire alarms switched off by hostel manager - court

Fire alarms at a backpackers’ hostel in Australia were switched off by one of the managers just weeks before a fire tore through the building, killing 15 young travellers, including Limerick woman Julie O'Keeffe, 24, a court heard.

John Dobe, co-manager of the Palace Backpackers Hostel, told the Brisbane Supreme Court jury in the trial of alleged arsonist and double murderer Robert Paul Long that there had been a series of false alarms in the months leading up to the fire on June 23, 2000.