TERRIBLE PANIC IN A CHURCH.

Otago Witness, Issue 2287, 30 December 1897, Page 15

TERRIBLE PANIC IN A CHURCH.

Tho terrible .panic which occurred in an Orthodox church in lhe village of Khmelyo, near the town of Kozloff, Russia, on October. 2\, was far more disastrous in its consequences than it was represented to be in the first telegrams on the subject. The church had been newly built, and a vesper service was being held in connection with iti consecration. The largo town of Kczloff. being not more than eight miles off, there were many townsmen as well a«t peasants from the surrounding country. As the ventilators had not been opened at Grst, it became necessary to throw open somawhat sud« deuly both ventilators and windows, whereupon dense clouds of vapour issued forth from the steaming congregation within, which was mis* tak«:n by the crowd outside for smoke, especially as at the same moment a bltzi of light was produced by tho lighting up of all tho candelabra. The candles in the chandeliers of Russian churches are lighted by igniting the end of aa inflammable thread previously attached to all the wicks. The people outside imagined that the altar screen was burning, and set up frantic cries of " Fire ! " and '•' Help ! " Tha crowded worshippers crushed towards the door. The scene and the results which followed remind one of the Khodinsky Plain disaster. There was no medical aid nearer than Kozloff, and when morning dawned there was a vast; heip of dead and dying. Altogether, 74- persons were killed, including 15 pregnant women* aud 160 were mote or less seriously injured.