“Eventide Fire A Disaster” is a powerful dancehall smash hit produced by Junjo Lawes which describes a horrific fire in an elderly home that killed 153 elderly women.

The cause of the blaze was never officially determined. However, there were several reports that it was the result of arson sparked by political hostilities.

The Jamaica National Heritage Trust (JNHT) website notes that one opinion on the cause of the fire argued that it was the result of political manoeuvring during the final months leading up to the most violent general elections in Jamaica’s recent history.

There were a number of reports to the police from persons living at the home that gunmen had entered the premises more than once, claiming they had come to kill the staff and inmates for reasons connected with their alleged political affiliations, the website also notes.

Gunmen also besieged the home just six months after the fire and injured two persons.

All 153 victims of the fire were permanent residents on Myers Ward — an old wooden building constructed during the late 19th century.

After the fire was extinguished, 144 charred bodies were found beneath the rubble.

Days later, two other women who were badly burnt succumbed to their injuries at the Kingston Public Hospital.

Only 58 persons escaped the inferno on Myers Ward, which 211 elderly women called home at the time. The other nine remained missing and were eventually presumed dead, the website said.

The incident sparked nationwide condemnation, so much so that then-Prime Minister Michael Manley declared May 26, 1980 — the day the victims were buried in a mass grave inside the National Heroes Park — a day of national mourning.