A survivor of the fire at the Stardust nightclub has told the inquests into the deadly blaze how she helped persuade the mother of a victim to let her daughter go to the disco on the night.

Patricia O'Connor, who was 16 years old at the time of the disaster, was friends with Caroline Carey who died in the blaze.

The inquests were told how Caroline Carey, who was 17, was 'grounded’ that night and that Ms O’Connor and her friend went to Caroline’s home and spoke to her mother who then let Caroline go.

In court, Ms O’Connor described how Caroline’s mother had told them that Caroline had to be home after the dance competition.

She described how they were "all excited" leaving the house and how Caroline’s father had spotted them walking up the road and beeped at them from his car.

She said she could not "go up that road for ten years" after the fire.

In what was emotional testimony, Ms O’Connor said: "We promised her mammy that she’d be home."

The court heard Caroline Carey was pregnant at the time.

She also described the excitement of the night and the club "was a great place … there was a buzz around the place".

'I could barely breathe'

Earlier, Ms O’Connor recalled first seeing the fire, saying it was "small" and that "within seconds" the place went into darkness as she was enveloped by smoke. "I could barely breathe," she said.

She also described how there were drops coming from the ceiling, "like tar and oil". The court heard how she suffered burns to over half her body.

It was not the fire that burned her, she said, it was the drops. When they first fell, it was painful, but then it was not. "I can’t explain it," she said in court. "I could just feel them all over me."

She said she could hear people screaming, "mammy, daddy help me. Open the doors". In court she said: "That’s what I heard, and that’s what I still hear."

The inquests also heard of the desperate attempts made by those who had escaped to try rescue the people still inside the burning building.

Derek Brown was 20 years old at the time. The statement he gave to gardaí four days after the fire was read into record.

He described that after he escaped from the Stardust, he went back to Exit 5 and said at that stage, "the smoke was circling at the door".

He told gardaí how he knelt down and could see a girl "covered in flames" around ten feet away.

"The clothes seemed to be burned off her. She was screaming and lying on the floor, rolling around," he said.

He described how a man next to him had a six foot hook and he was trying to put the curve around the girl’s leg to pull her out. He said the heat was "very intense" and he told gardaí how he then took the hook and ran in.

"I tried hooking the girl’s body with the hook but it kept slipping off," he said.

"When she had stopped screaming and moving, I ran out again. I presumed she was dead as did the rest of us," he told gardaí.

Another survivor, Donna Mayne, told the hearings that she thought she was going to die in the fire. "I just got this quick flash of the 20 years of my life," she said.

She told the court of the darkness and the extreme heat. "It was unbearable… It was just horrible," she said.

She recalled how she got to an exit door and could hear people vigorously shaking at the chains and could hear lads shouting, "the doors are f***ing locked, we won’t get out".

She said she did not see the doors being opened but described seeing "people’s bodies lying across each other". They were lying down she said, not moving. The court heard how she was then pulled outside by the arm.

'I couldn't get out'

Patrick Behan told the inquests how he became trapped in the toilets and was rescued by a fireman.

The court heard how he thought he was going to die in the blaze.

He told the inquests that he headed for the toilets with the idea of making it out a window, but that he could not.

"It was like a prison," he said, "I couldn’t get out."

He told the jury the scenes were "horrific" and that the fire went up "so fast". He also said he recited the Hail Mary and the Act of Contrition into a girl’s ear who was also trapped in the toilet.

"We were in a roasting oven," he said. "God Bless those who suffered," he added.

The inquests continue.