A survivor of the Stardust blaze has told how he was pulled to safety from a first floor window by other patrons as the fire and smoke inside was becoming more intense.
Anthony Preston was 24 at the time and was giving evidence today at the inquests into the deaths of the 48 people in the 1981 fire.
The proceedings at the Dublin District Coroner's Court are taking place in the Pillar Room on the grounds of the Rotunda Hospital in front of the coroner, Dr Myra Cullinane and a 13 person jury.
This is day 76 of the hearings.
The court was told how Anthony Preston headed to the main exit after he heard the DJ make an announcement that there was fire.
He described how when he went into the foyer, the lights then went out and the "mayhem" then started.
He said he held his breathe because of the fumes and the smoke and said he couldn’t see the fire but could "feel it".
He said people were screaming and coughing.
Replying to questions from Brenda Campbell, KC, whose representing families of the victims, he said "I don’t think panic is the word. It was mayhem, horrible".
He also spoke of how others were reacting, "people were giving up," he said.
He told the court how he made his way up the stairs and started smashing the windows to get air.
"I only had one intake of breath… I just wanted to get air," he said.
The jury was told that Mr Preston smashed the glass with his "bare hands" and that when people outside saw his hand coming out the broken window, they jumped up on the canopy and dragged him out to safety.
Mr Preston also told the court that when he was initially making his way out of the ballroom and into the foyer, a bouncer standing nearby at a door leading to the adjoining function room told him that the door was locked and that he should head for the main exit.
Another survivor, who was 16 at the time, told the court his "life flashed in front of him" as he was trapped inside the burning building.
Bernard Tully told the inquests how he had gone to the cloakroom to collect his jacket but then when he turned around there was absolute panic.
"It was terrible," he said.
He said there were "people on top of people" in the foyer and said at that stage "we basically couldn’t get out".
He then ended up in the cash office and smashed the window there, but bars across them meant he couldn’t escape through them.
At that point he said he thought he was going to die.
"My life did actually flash in front of me, the short life I did have," he said today.
The court heard how he then climbed on top of a counter and jumped out into the main foyer on top of people.
He said he basically fell out of the front door.
Earlier he told the court that a "ball of flames" came straight across the ceiling as soon as bouncer had lifted up the partition in the area where the fire was first spotted.In court today, he likened it to a scene from the film ‘Backdraft'.
He also told of an incident that took place around two weeks before the fire when his friends tried to get him in through a fire exit but they couldn’t because the doors were chained.
Earlier, Justin McAteer told the court how when he was making his way out the passageway to exit 1, people were coming in the opposite direction, with one man telling him they could not get out and that the doors were locked.
Mr McAteer said he "hesitated" before the people behind him pushed him forward.
He said when he got to the exit, it was open.
He said halfway down the passageway, the lights had gone out and it was very difficult to breathe.
He was 18 at the time and was in the club with friends including 17-year-old George O Connor who died.
Today in court, Mr McAteer said he had invited Mr O'Connor along that night and said that fact had "plagued" him.
He described his friend as "very popular" and "very friendly".
