When Heather Lea waved goodbye to her family 50 years ago as they boarded the ferry to the Isle of Man, she couldn't have known it would be the last time she would ever see them.
A dazzling building designed to hold 10,000 tourists, the Summerland leisure complex was everything you'd want from a seaside holiday under one roof - dance halls, bars, restaurants, a bingo hall and five floors of amusement arcade games. "I had a sinking feeling I would never see them again, because if they could've got to a phone, they would have called."Reg was asked to find the dental records of his father-in-law Richard as his body wasn't even recognisable.June with her mother Elizabeth in 1972. Pic: Reg Lea
The report said the accident was down to"human errors, a reliance on the old-boy network and poor communications". The Summerland Fire Commission who investigated the incident, listed several reasons for the huge loss of life:No fire alarm rang inside Summerland, even after the entire building was in flames;The internal layout didn't take into consideration fire escape routes;The remains of the Summerland building
The list of failings in the report continued. The open design led to the fire spreading at speed in all directions, according to the investigators. They say their support is growing in numbers, from cross-party MPs and organisations such as Grenfell United - who say the similarities are"chilling" between the Isle of Man disaster and Grenfell tower.
In an interview with Sky News, MP John Madders, who has pushed for a public inquiry in the Commons, said it seemed like"everyone on the Isle of Man wanted to forget about it and the families deserve proper recognition"."The verdict was wrong and it can't stand - if there's an acknowledgment that that was inappropriate that would help people cope with this.
Source: Law Daily Report (lawdailyreport.net)
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