‘We weren’t let see our girl after blaze’
A COUPLE who lost their only child in Ireland’s worst ever fire have said they are still upset they were not allowed to see their daughter’s body.
Caroline McHugh, from Artane, north Dublin, was just 17 years old when she died in the fire that killed 48 young people in the popular Stardust nightclub in 1981.
Her parents, Maurice and Phyllis McHugh, had travelled to Manchester the day before the fire for a family wedding, leaving Caroline with family friends so she could attend the Valentine’s Day dance at the Artane disco.
‘When we first got the news, a family member told us there had been a fire and Caroline was missing,’ Mr McHugh said.
‘We booked a flight and as we were on our way to Liverpool Airport, we phoned home and Phyllis’s uncle told us, “Caroline’s dead and she’s in the morgue”.
‘We were completely devastated. I can’t explain what it’s like losing a child: it’s an empty feeling.
‘When we got to the morgue they told us they couldn’t identify her.’
Examiners used a damaged tooth to identify Caroline, before giving her parents her watch, chain and a melted comb cut out of her jeans in a plastic bag.
Mr McHugh said: ‘We were so numb and shocked we just went along with everything they said.’
Investigations showed that a number of emergency routes from the dance hall were locked by chains. Families of the victims petitioned the Attorney General last month for a new inquest into the tragedy. Mrs McHugh said: ‘The Government has a lot to answer for.
‘We were told nothing about the fire even in the days after.
‘We were told what funeral home to use and graveyard to bury Caroline in. She’s buried in Sutton; it’s not near where we live. We were grieving so much, we just did what we were told.’
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