Sema Karataş (12) survived from the dormitory fire broken out in Aladağ, Adana on November 29, 2016, by jumping from the third level of the building. The student who was injured seriously gave legal testimony for the first time, almost 4 months after the event. Karataş’ and other students’ statements revealed that the students were used as child labour in the dormitory. One of the students stated that when she was washing the dishes, she was feeling an electric current running in the water, so it was difficult for her to wash the dishes.
‘THEY ARE ALL CHILD LABORERS’
According to İsmail Saymaz from Hürriyet news, the father of another wounded child, Fatma Zehra Altun, also stated that they registered their daughter in this dormitory at the recommendation of a school principal. According to the father, the school principal told them that the dormitory management would take care of their child’s after school education and their health. “However”, the father says, “my daughter told us that they could not find time to study because they got tired after washing dishes, doing cleaning and preparing meals”.
‘THE DOORS WERE USUALLY LOCKED’
Sema Karataş, who gave legal testimony for the first time after the event, told that all her friends, except one, fainted because of the smoke. They went near the windows and people were holding blankets open for them to jump off. She says that “I understood that there was no water in the fire-water reservoir and the firemen had no tarp, so the people stretched out blankets”. She also added that the doors of the dormitory were usually locked and in the day the fire broke out, the door of the fire escape was locked and the door had no handle.
