Eventide Home fire
crimecrimeJamaica
| File:Eventide-monument.jpg The memorial to the victims. | |
| Date | 20 May 1980 |
|---|---|
| Location | Jamaica |
| Type | crime |
| Deaths | 153 |
| Injured (non-fatal) | Many others |
| Description | A suspicious fire. |
| Perpetrators | CIA? |
| Blamed on | Accident |
The Eventide Home fire was a huge disaster in Jamaica in 1980, a few months before the bloodiest general election in the country’s history in which the government lost in a landslide. [1]
What happened?
153 elderly women were killed when the care home they lived in burned down. Only 58 of them survived. Many of them were destitute, and with physical disabilities. The Eventide Home was on Slipe Pen Road in St Andrew Parish where they resided. The early-morning fire spread rapidly through the mainly wooden buildings.
On May 26, 1980, coffins with the charred remains of 145 victims were interred in a mass grave at National Heroes Park.
The fire was suspected to have been started by politically motivated arsonists.
Suspected CIA regime change effort for the 1980 general election.
Wikipedia
Despite being one of the deadliest events in Jamaican history, it did not have its own Wikipedia article until 4 August 2021. It is not well documented.