INDIAN TRAGEDY

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXIII, Issue 22447, 17 June 1936, Page 13

INDIAN TRAGEDY

FIRE IN A CINEMA At LEAST 20 VICTIMS MANY OTHERS INJURED HOW SOME ESCAPED By Telegraph—Press Association —Copyright (Received June 16, 6.5 p.m.) Times Cnble LONDON, June 16 The Bombay correspondent of the Times reports that at least 20 people, most of them women and children, were incinerated and many others were injured in a fire in a cinema at Motimahal, Hyderabad. The fire originated in the projection cabin and spread with lightning rapidity to a wooden balcony reserved for Zenana women, who rushed exits, where they were cut off by flames which enveloped a staircase.

Some of the women jumped down into the auditorium, where many of them were crushed in a panic-stricken surge to the doors. The balcony collapsed and buried the occupants in debris. The theatre spoedily became a roaring furnace and was completely burned out. Fourteen bodies have been recovered. They were recognisable only by jewellery. Rescue work was hampered bv enormous crowds of people who were almost driven mad by the screams of dying relatives. The Daily Herald's Madras correspondent states that the wife of a Hyderabad official, by improvising a fire escape, saved many lives. She tore oil* her gaily coloured sari and tied it to the balcony railing, thus enabling 40 women, including herself, to slide down into the auditorium whence they escaped. Tho Nizam of Hyderabad visited the ruins subsequently. He criticised the inadequacy of the protection against fire and ordered the Commissioner of Police henceforth not to permit buildings to be used as cinemas unless the escape of the audiences was ensured.