THIRTY KILLED

Press, Volume LXXII, Issue 21805, 10 June 1936, Page 11

THIRTY KILLED

KING OF RUMANIA LEADS RESCUERS i COLLAPSE OF GRANDSTAND IN BUCHAREST (tTKITID PBBSS ASSOCIATIOM —COPTKIGXT.) (Received June 9, 9.30 a.m.) BUCHAREST, June 8. Thirty were killed and 600 were injured through the collapse of a grandstand while King Carol and the President of Czechoslovakia (Dr. E. Benes) were reviewing Boy Scouts and Girl Guides. The hos- : pitals are crowded with sufferers, ’ who are chiefly relatives of the per- • formers. ! The Scouts and Guides were the first to rush to the rescue. King Carol, his brother. Prince Nicholas, and his son, the Crown Prince Michael, led the rescue operations and prevented a stampede. 1 The scene of the accident was opposite the royal box, in which Queen Marie, Dr. Benes, and the Diplomatic Corps were horrified spectators. The bands continued playing and the programme proceeded in order to obviate a panic. Another stand collapsed without a casualty 45 minutes earlier. The disaster was preceded by ominous crackings from the grandstand, which was built in tiers to a height of 60 feet. A noise like a thunderclap signalised the collapse, the demolished stand becoming a mass of struggling people piled high on top of one another. Six thousand persons occupied the stand. Prince Paul of Jugoslavia started to follow King Carol to the rescue, but he decided to retain his place beside Queen Marie. The display celebrated the sixth anniversary of King Carol’s restoration. Twenty-five thousand boy and girl members of athletic associations were participating in the physical culture exhibition, which was held j at the Cotroceni Plateau. An American in charge of 600 boys arrived when the grandstand had a place for only one more boy, who took it. This boy was severely injured. The other 599 boys, who were accommodated elsewhere, i escaped. i 1 Of the injured 483 were taken to | 1 hospital. The others were accom-j jmodated in private houses as the | hospitals were full. Seven arrests have been made, in-1 eluding the city’s Building Commis-i ! sioner and the architects who de- ; I signed the stand, while all the con-j tractors and engineers concerned in} its building have been detained. One architect is reported to have com- ; mitted suicide. ! An angry crowd demonstrated before the house of the Mayor, who ; placed the contracts. It is ex-1 i pected that he will be forced to! ! resign. j A judicial enquiry has begun. ; King Carol sent the Marshal at | i the Palace to distribute money to I i the families of the victims. |