GOTHENBURG — 1998 · Major Tragedy
The Gothenburg Discotheque Fire
On the night of 29 October 1998, a fire broke out at a disco party organised by secondary school students in a building belonging to a Macedonian association in the Backaplan area of Hisingen, Gothenburg. Around 375 young people were inside a venue the fire service had rated for about 150. Sixty-three people died and 213 were injured, most of them teenagers. The investigation established that the fire had been set deliberately. Four young men, angered at being asked to pay for entry, were convicted of arson in 2000 and given prison and youth custody sentences. It remains the deadliest fire in Swedish history; in 2008 a memorial bearing the victims' names was unveiled at Backaplan.
- Date
- 1998
- Place
- Hisingen (Backaplan), Sweden, Gothenburg, SE
- Category
- Major Tragedy
- Case Status
- Closed
- Coordinates
- 57.7200, 11.9500 ↗
Timeline of Events
- 29 October 1998Fire broke out at the Backaplan disco; 63 died.
- 1999Investigators concluded the fire was set deliberately.
- 2000Four young men were convicted of arson.
- October 2008A memorial was unveiled at Backaplan.
Sources
- Wikipedia — 1998 Gothenburg discotheque fire en.wikipedia.org ↗
- PubMed — The discotheque fire in Gothenburg 1998 pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov ↗
- Wikipedia
- PubMed (Burns journal)
Source grade A: several independent sources, at least one an official record or reference work. If you spot a mistake or something missing, report it with "Suggest a correction" in the app.
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🕯️ This record was prepared with respect, in memory of those who lost their lives.