FIRE AT CINEMA

Greymouth Evening Star, 16 June 1936, Page 7

FIRE AT CINEMA

MANY KILLED & INJURED INDIAN HALL DISASTER [BY CABLE —PRESS ASSN. COPYRIGHT.] (Rec.-June 16, 1 p.m.) LONDON, June 15. “The Times,” Bombay correspondent says that at least twenty mostly women and children, were incinerated and many were injured, in a fire at the Motimahal Cinema. Hyderabad. -The outbreak originated in the cabin, and spread with lightning rapidity to a wooden balcony reserved for Zenana women, who rushed to the exits, where they were cut off by the flames enveloping the staircase. Some leapt to the auditorium, where many were crushed in a panic surge to the doors. The balcony collapsed, burying the occupants in the debris. The theatre, speedily becoming a roaring furnace, was ccJmffleffely burnt out. Fourteen bodies recovered were recognisable” only by jewellery. The rescue work was hampered by enormous crowds, who were almost driven mad by the screams of dying relatives.

The Nizam later visited the ruins, and criticised the inadequacy of protection against fire. He ordered the police commissioner, henceforth, not to permit buildings to be used as a cinema unless the audience’s escape was ensured.