Overwhelmed by emotions, the mother of the 5-year-old boy, who was among the 20 children who died in the Mahdia dorm fire, took the stand at the Commission of Inquiry today and provided the Commissioners with horrifying details about the fire.
The woman, Carlet Williams, who also worked as the Caretaker at the Dorm, recalled waking up to screams and eventually learning that her 5-year-old son was among those who perished.
“When I opened my room door, some of them [the girls] pushed and run in, and they started screaming, ‘Miss, fire, fire in the building.’ So, I decided to grab the key because I know, they were there coming for me to open the door. So, I brought the key and I decided to push way to see where is the fire. I pushed my way, and when I look down the building, the fire was up in the ceiling, heading from the bathroom area,” Williams recalled.
Gripped by fear amid the loud cries for help and a building already engulfed in the flames, the House Mother said she struggled to find the correct key to open one of the main doors of the building.
“I decided to go back to the door. I got scared, I got so scared that I tried to find the key to open the door, and I just couldn’t find the keys. Every time I put my hands on a key, it is not the key. I had to look for the hole on the lock to open and I keep trying from one key to the next,” she told the Commission.
Williams said amid the chaos, the bunch of keys fell from her hands, but thankfully, with the help of the girls, they were found, but she was still unable to open the door in the middle of the confusion and chaos.
“The key fall a second time, and when it fall a second time, I know, I couldn’t help the girls. But that didn’t stop me from trying,” she said while adding, “I thought to myself, I have to go and kick open the middle door because we have to come out, and I was also wondering, why nobody hearing me from outside, since our building is on fire, and nobody is coming to rescue.”
Williams said before venturing to the middle section of the building, she went back to her room to look for her son, but could not find him.
“I couldn’t find him, because the room was full of girls. They were all jumping, and screaming and running. Some of them was on the ground. They were lying there, I couldn’t see, but while walking in the room, trying to find my son, feeling around, I know I stepped on some of them,” she said.
According to the House Mother, the entire room was covered in thick black smoke, and the heat became unbearable.
She said her husband, who was based over at the Male Dorm, rushed across and kicked open a door, allowing her and many of the girls to get out of the burning building.
It was noted that many of the children who died, including her son, were burnt beyond recognition.
She said it was a devastating night and she still has not overcome the grief of losing her son and the girls she cared for at the dorm.
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