The Associated Press
THE HAGUE, Netherlands — Two Dutch ministers resigned from the Cabinet Thursday after accepting blame for safety lapses in a fire that killed 11 illegal immigrants awaiting deportation in an airport jail last year.
Justice Minister Piet Hein Donner and Housing Minister Sybilla Dekker told parliament they had submitted their resignations to Queen Beatrix, which came two months before national elections.
Dekker acknowledged the casualty toll in the Oct. 27 fire was worsened by the haste with which the airport facility was built, at a time when the public was worried about rising crime.
“Because of this public and political urgency, there was great pressure to expand the detention facility for drug smugglers,” Dekker said.
“Disasters can never be excluded, no matter what rules you make,” Dekker said.
The ministers addressed the legislature hours after the blue-ribbon Safety Investigation Council released its investigation into the blaze, citing a long list of shortcomings at the airport detention area in preparing for disaster and dealing with the fire after it broke out.