Ozone Disco Fire Is One Of The Most Shocking Club Accidents In Philippine History
Ozone Disco Club – a disco bar that compromised the lives of 162 young people 20 years ago in Quezon City, whom were celebrating for their upcoming graduation, but sadly never made it.
In this world where parties and disco clubs are highly in demand and diverse kind of music is always the “bread and butter” of every night life, it’s always a precaution to everyone to always stay safe and observant of every possible cause of accident while partying – no matter what.
So what did really happen? How did the fire began? Why was it there’s only a small portion who survived?
The Ozone Disco Club was built in 1991 and had it’s original name as “Birdland”. I could still remember how my mom recalled when she was able to go there when it’s still called Birdland, the genre of music was jazz and not really a party music yet. According to her, it was just a small club and could handle only one section of a class.
March 18, 1996 at around 11:35 pm when the fire first broke out, starting with only a small spark that was thought to be “props” by some who witnessed it, but that spark started to get bigger, leaving the whole dance floor into fire.
There was only one door, the main entrance and exit. According to the owner of the building next to Ozone, only the employees of such club there was another exit that supposedly served as the “emergency” exit. There was no fire extinguisher as well, no first aid kits and the like, only one security guard was on duty. One survivor said that the guard would at first, didn’t allow the door to be open telling them “not to panic”, and the main problem is it could only be opened inwards as “feng shui” regarded it as good luck.
To this day, the club was considered one of the most haunted places in the Philippines, many witnesses testified that every night they could hear different voices shouting, laughing as if they’re partying. Some recalled that while driving along Timog Avenue, voices could be heard and some have seen ghosts.
Only 92 people survived but were seriously injured, leaving them a memory of a lifetime.
Last April 2014, finally the Sandiganbayan put an end to the cased filed against the owners and officials who were responsible for it, sentenced hem for 6-9 years of imprisonment. Survivors rejoiced but saddened at the same time, remembering all those who di3d. For hem, this justice serves as a gift to all of the victims and their families.
May it be true for others and fake for some, souls who seek justice are undeniable, asking for help from us and the best thing we could offer is prayer – indeed.