NRC staff have heard horrific accounts from refugees about their scramble to cut through the wire fences to save their families, escape the fire and reach safety."[4] Police, however, rejected the claims regarding barbed wire,[10][note 2] and a government spokesman, reported Channel News Asia, stated that "the fencing was not a major issue", blaming the speed with which the fire spread rather than the barbed-wire fencing for casualties.[7]