TRAGIC CINEMA FIRE.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVII, Issue 20520, 22 March 1930, Page 11

TRAGIC CINEMA FIRE.

PANIC AMONG CHINESE.

OVER 100 PEOPLE PERISH.

SHANGHAI, March '2O.

Additional reports of the fire afc a cinema afc Changchun, near Kirin, Manchuria, disclose that a. fused electric wire ignited the flimsy, makeshift structure during ;i performance. It is believed that 120 perspns perished. Sixty-five bodies have been recovered, and many more are still among the ruins.

At the first sign of fire the large audience stampeded in a terrible panic, and rushed to a single narrow passage, the sole exit. Most of them were women and children, many.of whom were crushed to death. A stiff breeze was blowing, and soon the building was a mass of flames.

More than 100 persons were trapped inside the blazing furnace. The antiquated fire brigade was unable to do anything. Harrowing scenes followed, with thousands of Chinese shrieking and wailing as the fire completed its' terrible work.

The police and militia were compelled to resort to the severest tactics to pie-\-ent relatives of the dead from lynching the Chinese proprietor of the hall and the operator, who eventually escaped.

The recovery of the bodies was a, ghastly business. Thousands of Chinese hovered on the outskirts, others were engaged in digging, in the ruins, examining the charred bodies.

It is understood that, warrants have been issued for the arrest of the pio prietor and the operator.