Ozone Disco Club fire

Ozone Disco Club fire Date: March 18, 1996Time: around 00:00:00 Philippine Standard TimeLocation: Quezon City, PhilippinesCasualties 162 dead 95 injured Worst fire in Philippine history

A fire at the Ozone Disco Club in Quezon City, Philippines broke out shortly after midnight, Philippine Standard Time, March 18, 1996 (04:00:00 PM, March 17, 1996, GMT) leaving at least 162 people dead. It was officially acknowledged as the worst fire in Philippine history[1][2], and the world's worst nightclub fire since the 1977 Beverly Hills Supper Club fire in Southgate, Kentucky.[1]

1 Background
2 Event
- 2.1 Casualties
3 Investigation and aftermath
4 References

Background

Ozone Disco, located along Timog Avenue in Quezon City, opened in 1991.[3] [4] Its building had previously housed a jazz club named "Birdland".[3] The disco was operated by Westwood Entertainment Company, Inc.[4][5]

Event

The fire broke out on March 18, 1996. At the time of the fire, it was estimated that there were around 350 patrons and 40 club employees inside Ozone Disco, though it had been approved for occupancy for only 35 persons.[1][5] Most of the club guests were high school and college students attending graduation or end-of-the-schoolyear celebrations.[6] Survivors reported seeing sparks flying inside the disc jockey's booth shortly after midnight, followed by smoke.[6][1][5] Within minutes, flames had engulfed the inside of the club and its mezzanine had collapsed.[1]

Many of the bodies were discovered along the corridor leading to the only exit, piled up waist-high.[1] Quezon City officials were quoted as saying that the club's emergency exit had been blocked by a new building next door,[1] and that there was no proper fire exit.[6] It was also reported that the exit had been locked from the outside by the club's guards, who had thought that a riot had taken place.[5]

The former Ozone Disco remains standing as of 2008 in Timog Avenue, Quezon City. It has never been restored for commercial use.

Casualties

The final death count was reported as between 160[7] to 162 people, the latter being the figure cited by the trial court that heard the ensuing criminal case.[5] The death toll was one of the worst ever for a nightclub fire[6], though it was subsequently surpassed by the República Cromagnon nightclub fire. In addition, at least 95 persons were injured.[5]

Investigation and aftermath

Six persons involved with Westwood Entertainment were tried before the courts for criminal charges of "reckless imprudence resulting in multiple homicide and multiple serious injuries".[5][7] On March 16, 2001, the president of Westwood Entertainment, Hermilo Ocampo, and the corporation's treasurer, Ramon Ng, were found guilty by a Quezon City trial court and sentenced to a four-year prison term, and fined 25 million pesos each.[5][7] They and their co-accused, who were acquitted, were also ordered to indemnify the families of the deceased 150,000 pesos, and 100,000 pesos to the injured. The trial court concluded that Ocampo and Ng failed to provide fire exits and sprinklers inside the establishment, that the fire extinguishers they placed were defective, and that the lone exit was through a small door that swung inward and did not meet the standard set by the building code.[5]

In November of 2001, twelve officials of the Quezon City government were criminally charged before the Sandiganbayan also for reckless imprudence resulting in multiple homicide and multiple serious injuries. They were accused of allowing Ozone Disco to secure a certificate of annual inspection in 1995 “despite the inadequacy, insufficiency and impropriety of the documents submitted by the owners.”[7] In 2007, one of the twelve — the former city engineer and building official of Quezon City, Alfredo Macapugay — was discharged from criminal and civil liability after the Sandiganbayan concluded that he had no hand in the issuance of the necessary permits to Ozone Disco management.[8]

As of 2008, the structure which housed the Ozone Disco remains standing in Timog Avenue, Quezon City, though the site of the disco has not been commercially used since then.[9] For a few years after the fire, there was on the site a makeshift memorial featuring photographs of the victims of the fire. The makeshift memorial has since been dismantled, and no commemorative marker or official memorial marks the incident and its victims.