Childers marks 25 years since hostel fire tragedy

Welsh tourists Natalie Morris and Sarah Williams died in the blaze started by killer Robert Long at the Palace Backpackers Hostel in Australia 25 years ago. Abbie Wightwick looks back on the tragedy as poignant commemorations are held...

- 

A QUARTER of a century has passed since a deranged loner set light to the Palace backpackers' hostel in Australia in a shocking act that led to the deaths of 15 people.

Memorial events have been held to mark the 25th anniversary of the deadly blaze in the small Queensland town of Childers on June 23, 2000.

The horrific tragedy left survivors in trauma, local people deeply shocked and the bereaved devastated.

For the families of Natalie Morris, 28, from Cefn Coed, Merthyr Tydfil, and Sarah Williams, 23, from Aberfan, who lost their lives that night, it was a personal tragedy with the added pain that the young women perished halfway across the globe, far from loved ones, on what should have been the trip of a lifetime.

Natalie and Sarah were among seven travellers from Britain, along with three from the Netherlands, three Australians, one from Japan and a South Korean who died in their beds that night after a killer torched the building.

Escape from the deadly blaze was hampered by an exit blocked with furniture and barred windows.

In 2006 an inquest into the deaths revealed emergency exits at the hostel had been obstructed by bunk beds, doors and windows were nailed closed or barred, fire alarms weren't operational and, with 80 guests inside on the night of the fire, the premises was overcrowded.

Kelly Symonds from Aberfan, a former school friend who'd travelled to Australia with Natalie and Sarah, managed to escape the inferno at the near-century-old converted pub.

In the midst of the horror a fellow guest managed to squeeze her through the barred window of the room in which they were sleeping.