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Dutch Rave Organiser Faces Homicide Charges After Fire

Author: Jonty Skrufff
Sunday, November 21, 2004
A free party promoter who hosted an unlicensed rave in Amsterdam was facing charges of "culpable homicide' this week, after a fire killed one person and seriously injured six others at the event.

According to media reports, the blaze broke out around 7am last Sunday (November 14) when hundreds of revellers were still inside the squatted industrial space. Firemen found the dead victim inside as well as the six survivors, who were hospitalised suffering from "severe burns as well as breathing problems" (Reuters).

The tragedy reflected the concerns of legendary London free party promoter Alex Silverfish, who two years ago warned of precisely the same danger at UK parties. Alex hosted 278 parties between 1990 and last year and became highly safety conscious after a few events almost went wrong.

"We had a few stampedes though thankfully nobody was ever hurt but I was so scared by them that safety became a prime issue," she told Skrufff.

"Since then we've always had a fire plan, one of us is always carrying a whistle and everyone working for us knows the direction to show everybody the fire exits if they hear that whistle," she continued.

"When you do parties you're in charge of lots of people and responsible for their lives because they let themselves go to the music, to the drugs and the drink and you become the only one that is in charge as a promoter, of their lives. You need to be aware all the time and need to be always safety conscious," she stressed, "because tragedies can happen in a matter of seconds."
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