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The National
6 days ago
- The National
50 families to be rehomed and building demolished after Perth fire
Emergency services were called to the city's Scott Street at around 1.50am on Saturday after officers patrolling the area spotted the fire. A total of 12 fire appliances were called to the scene to deal with structural collapses at the height of the blaze. A man was pronounced dead at the scene. An eight-year-old girl and a 27-year-old man were taken to hospital for treatment. READ MORE: Misogynistic attacks on Nicola Sturgeon lead to real threats, Kate Forbes warns Perth and Kinross Council said it is looking to accommodate around 50 families in the aftermath of the fire, according to Sky News. The local authority added it is seeking support from local landlords and Airbnb owners to help provide alternative housing for those affected. Eric Drysdale, deputy leader of the council, said structural engineers have deemed the entire building unsafe and unsalvageable. He said: 'As things stand, the building is a serious risk to health and safety. Unfortunately, this means that the whole building will require complete demolition.' The work is expected to take around 24 weeks for completion. (Image: Momchil Ivanov/PA Wire) Councillor Drysdale added: 'But it is possible that it could be concluded earlier if there are no complications.' The British Red Cross said it is supporting the families who were evacuated and that volunteers are providing clothing, hygiene items and other items to those who need it whilst unable to access their belongings or homes. The charity also provided cash assistance, signposting and sourced beds for the rest centre. Eleanor Stack, British Red Cross operations lead for Crisis Response, said the charity's volunteers are specially trained to help people if they need to talk following the distressing incident. She said: 'It is extremely distressing to be evacuated from your home. Everyone experiences emergencies differently, and needs vary based on individual circumstance. 'The British Red Cross is helping people at hotels, working with other local partners, to help make sure support is in place. 'Our emergency response volunteers are specially trained to help people if they need to talk. Volunteers are also checking people have everything they need, be that clothing or toiletries and anything else they require to make them feel more comfortable.' A joint investigation into the incident has been launched by Police Scotland and Scottish Fire and Rescue Service. Police said a temporary airspace restriction is also in place in the Scott Street and South Street areas until 1pm on Wednesday, June 18, for security and safety. The restrictions include drones and people must check if it is legal to fly in your area as it is a criminal offence to fly in restricted airspace. Chief Superintendent Nicola Russell, divisional commander for Tayside said: 'Our thoughts remain with all those impacted by this fire. 'Our enquiries remain ongoing to establish the cause of the fire and we would like to thank the local community for their co-operation and support and officers remain in the area. 'Road closures and cordons remain in place to ensure safety and allow enquiries to be carried out. 'We are reviewing CCTV and speaking to residents and I would appeal for anyone with any information which could assist to contact us. 'Anyone with any information is asked to contact 101 quoting reference 0380 of June 14, 2025.'
The National
6 days ago
- The National
Dozens of families to be rehomed following fatal Perth fire
Emergency services were called to the city's Scott Street at around 1.50am on Saturday after officers patrolling the area spotted the fire. A total of 12 fire appliances were called to the scene to deal with structural collapses at the height of the blaze. A man was pronounced dead at the scene. An eight-year-old girl and a 27-year-old man were taken to hospital for treatment. READ MORE: Misogynistic attacks on Nicola Sturgeon lead to real threats, Kate Forbes warns Perth and Kinross Council said it is looking to accommodate around 50 families in the aftermath of the fire, according to Sky News. The local authority added it is seeking support from local landlords and Airbnb owners to help provide alternative housing for those affected. Eric Drysdale, deputy leader of the council, said structural engineers have deemed the entire building unsafe and unsalvageable. He said: 'As things stand, the building is a serious risk to health and safety. Unfortunately, this means that the whole building will require complete demolition.' The work is expected to take around 24 weeks for completion. (Image: Momchil Ivanov/PA Wire) Councillor Drysdale added: 'But it is possible that it could be concluded earlier if there are no complications.' The British Red Cross said it is supporting the families who were evacuated and that volunteers are providing clothing, hygiene items and other items to those who need it whilst unable to access their belongings or homes. The charity also provided cash assistance, signposting and sourced beds for the rest centre. Eleanor Stack, British Red Cross operations lead for Crisis Response, said the charity's volunteers are specially trained to help people if they need to talk following the distressing incident. She said: 'It is extremely distressing to be evacuated from your home. Everyone experiences emergencies differently, and needs vary based on individual circumstance. 'The British Red Cross is helping people at hotels, working with other local partners, to help make sure support is in place. 'Our emergency response volunteers are specially trained to help people if they need to talk. Volunteers are also checking people have everything they need, be that clothing or toiletries and anything else they require to make them feel more comfortable.' A joint investigation into the incident has been launched by Police Scotland and Scottish Fire and Rescue Service. Police said a temporary airspace restriction is also in place in the Scott Street and South Street areas until 1pm on Wednesday, June 18, for security and safety. The restrictions include drones and people must check if it is legal to fly in your area as it is a criminal offence to fly in restricted airspace. Chief Superintendent Nicola Russell, divisional commander for Tayside said: 'Our thoughts remain with all those impacted by this fire. 'Our enquiries remain ongoing to establish the cause of the fire and we would like to thank the local community for their co-operation and support and officers remain in the area. 'Road closures and cordons remain in place to ensure safety and allow enquiries to be carried out. 'We are reviewing CCTV and speaking to residents and I would appeal for anyone with any information which could assist to contact us. 'Anyone with any information is asked to contact 101 quoting reference 0380 of June 14, 2025.'
Sky News
7 days ago
- Sky News
Dig for remains of 800 infants at former 'mother and baby home' in Ireland begins
A long-awaited forensic excavation at a former 'mother and baby home', where the remains of almost 800 babies and children are believed to be buried, will start today in County Galway. Many of the children who died at the institution in Tuam are believed to have been dumped into a former sewage tank, known as "the pit", according to local historian Catherine Corless. It was her painstaking research that uncovered the deaths of 798 children at the home for unmarried mothers between 1925 and its closure in 1961. Of those, just two were buried in a nearby cemetery. The remaining 796 are, it's presumed, buried at the site. "I'm feeling very relieved," the historian told Sky News as the excavation begins. "It's been a long, long journey. Not knowing what's going to happen, if it's just going to fall apart or if it's really going to happen." It exposed the dark underbelly of a mid-century Ireland heavily swayed by Catholicism and its cruel attitudes towards illegitimate children and the women who bore them, often sent to mother and baby homes before being separated from their offspring. A decade later, a team of investigators led by Daniel MacSweeney is embarking on a forensic excavation that could last for two years. The goal is to identify as many of the remains as possible through DNA testing, and to give all a dignified reburial. A seminal moment in the search for closure Stephen Murphy Ireland correspondent @SMurphyTV Every time I've stood on the damp grass at the Tuam site, I've experienced an eerie feeling of sadness or foreboding. Knowing that just a few feet below - many in a disused sewer system - are tiny human bones, fragments of children utterly dehumanised in death as in life, is deeply discomforting. They've lain there for decades, gradually exposed through local myths, historical research, lurid headlines, political outrage and state apologies. Now, for the first time, the remains of hundreds of stigmatised Irish children should finally be brought to the surface. It will be a painstaking forensic process, most likely lasting for years. The team will attempt to identify individual babies through DNA samples from living relatives, but it's expected that a large number will never be identified. For many relatives, the hope is for closure. This dig may offer physical remains for reburial to many of those families. But a more fundamental question will most likely never be answered: how could a Christian institution treat women at their most vulnerable with such cold inhumanity, and simply dump their dead children into a pit in the dank earth? It's a glimmer of hope for people like Annette McKay, who now lives in Manchester. Her mother Margaret "Maggie" O'Connor gave birth to a baby girl in the Tuam home in 1942 after being raped at 17. The girl, named Mary Margaret, died six months later. Annette remembers her late mother recalling how "she was pegging washing out and a nun came up behind her and said 'the child of your sin is dead'." Annette now hopes her infant sister's remains can be exhumed at Tuam and laid to rest with Maggie. Margaret O'Connor reunited with her child. "I don't care if it's a thimbleful, as they tell me there wouldn't be much remains left; at six months old, it's mainly cartilage more than bone. I don't care if it's a thimbleful for me to be able to pop Mary Margaret with Maggie. That's fitting." For Annette, now 71, Tuam is emblematic of a different time in Ireland. "We locked up victims of rape, we locked up victims of incest, we locked up victims of violence, we put them in laundries, we took their children, and we just handed them over to the Church to do what they wanted," she said. "My mother worked heavily pregnant, cleaning floors and a nun passing kicked my mother in the stomach. And when that place is opened, their dirty, ugly secret, it isn't a secret anymore. "It's out there. And we need to know from that dirty, ugly place what happened there. So first and foremost, we want answers to that place." The Irish government made a formal state apology in 2021 after an inquiry found an "appalling level of infant mortality" in Ireland's mother and baby homes, concluding that around 9,000 children had died in the 18 institutions investigated. Taoiseach Micheal Martin said at the time that "we had a completely warped attitude to sexuality and intimacy, and young mothers and their sons and daughters were forced to pay a terrible price for that dysfunction". The Sisters of Bon Secours, which had run the Tuam home, offered their "profound apologies", admitting the children were "buried in a disrespectful and unacceptable way", and offered financial compensation. 12:55 As the dig - which could last up to two years - starts at the Bon Secours site, the people of Tuam are still grappling with the contempt and neglect that occurred in their town. "I'm still trying to figure that out," said Ms Corless. "I mean, these were a nursing congregation. "The church preached to look after the vulnerable, the old and the orphaned, but they never included illegitimate children for some reason or another in their own psyche. "I never, ever understand how they could do that to little babies, little toddlers. Beautiful little vulnerable children."
