FILM FIRE DISASTER

Grey River Argus, 17 June 1936, Page 7

FILM FIRE DISASTER

IN INDIAN THEATRE. TWENTY LIVES LOST. (Aust. & N.Z. Cable Assn. - ) LONDON, June 15. “The Times” Bombay correspondent says that at least twenty, mostly women and children, were incinerated and many wore isjured 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 Hames 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 completelv burnt out. fourteen bodies recovered were recognisable only by jewellery. Ihe rescue work wtts 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.