Two Dutch ministers resigned from the Cabinet Thursday 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. Their statements came two months before national elections.
Dekker acknowledged the casualty toll in the Oct. 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 elections Nov. 22.
The report also criticized 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 organizations involved."
The fire raised questions about whether the government sacrificed safety standards in its haste to deport immigrants when it ordered the complex's rapid construction in 2002.
Council chairman Pieter van Vollenhoven declined to respond to questions about criminal liability or negligence. "It's not up to us to determine guilt," he said. That would be up to public prosecutors.
The political fallout of the report on public opinion also was not immediately clear, since the airport fire has not been a priority issue in the early days of the campaign.
But opposition parties indicated they may try to keep the report on the public agenda.
"The building wasn't in order, the procedures weren't in order, people weren't trained, the cooperation wasn't good, and as the clincher the care afterward was also substandard," said Aleid Wolfsen, of the leading opposition party, Labor. "It could hardly be worse."
The long-awaited report said the Justice Ministry, the country's building inspection service, and the city of Haarlemmermeer, which has jurisdiction over the airport, "failed on a number of points to adhere to the applicable laws and rules concerning fire safety."
The 310-page report, released alongside a multimedia and video presentation that was nationally broadcast, listed a series of failures, including the lack of training in emergency procedures for the prison guards, faulty smoke and ventilation ducts and problems of access for fire trucks.
The wing of the detention center where the fire broke out fell short of building regulations, it said. Pressure to build cells quickly may have come at the cost of fire security, but that pressure began to mount even before Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende was first elected in 2002, Van Vollenhoven said.
"I do not believe people are angry enough about this," said Toekaja Artist, the mother of Robbert Arah who died in the blaze, said outside the parliament building.
Janna Kodde, a protester who was unrelated to any of the victims, said she was pessimistic that the political fallout would damage conservative parties in the elections.
"There are many people who think refugees should not be locked up, but they keep voting for the parties from the right. So it's difficult to say if this will be a hot issue for the coming election," she said.
The victims were detainees from Suriname, Ukraine, Turkey, Georgia, Dominican Republic, Romania and Bulgaria.
A prisoner believed to have started the blaze is being prosecuted for arson and manslaughter, but Van Vollenhoven said it was unclear from his investigations if the fire was started deliberately or accidentally. Prosecutors also are investigating two guards for negligence. Relatives of victims also have launched civil proceedings.
All guards involved have denied negligence, as have firefighters, the Justice Ministry, builders, and the city of Haarlemmermeer.
Copyright: Associated Press WorldStream -- 9/22/06
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