A court in Belgium has convicted two men in connection with the deaths of two Irish students in a fire in 2014.
GMIT students Sara Gibadlo and Dace Zarina lost their lives in the blaze in Leuven in January of that year.
Sara Gibadlo and Dace Zarina were in their second year of a degree in Hotel and Catering Management at the Galway Mayo Institute of Technology when they transferred to Belgium on Erasmus.
They attended the Leuven Institute for Ireland in Europe and stayed in accommodation owned by the director Malachy Vallely.
The fire started after fellow student student Shane Bracken lit a cigarette in the house.
The court in Leuven decided this morning that both men and the institution are responsible for unintentional killing.
Mr Vallely has received a one year suspended jail sentence – while Mr Bracken has received a three month suspended sentence – Mr Vallely and the institute have also been fined
It’s reported the students families are considering a separate legal action in connection with their daughter’s deaths.
