FATAL PANIC

Rangitikei Advocate and Manawatu Argus, Volume XXXVI, Issue 10401, 15 July 1912, Page 6

FATAL PANI C

London, June 1.

A telegram from Villareal states that a fire broke oat there on Monday in a cinematograph tbeatre, with the result that eighty persons were killed. A large number of those seriously injured are dying. It appears that there was no provision for the safety of the audience, the building being an old shop with only one exit, close to which was a small room containing the cinematograph apparatus. Just before the last performance a spark set fire to the operating room, and the result was an indescribable panic among the people In the theatre, who numbered upwards of 180. Everyone rushed towards the one door, causing tremendous crushes, from which only a few persons were able to escape into the street. In the meantime the fire continued to spread, and the fact that the centre of the fire was in the room near the exit enchanced the terror of the struggling spectators, and made it still more difficult to rescue them from outside. A telegram from Villareal on Wednesday says :—Pout persons who were injured in the great cinematograph fire have died in hospital of their injuries, and the lives of four others are despaired of. The Examining Magistrate has issued aa edict inviting people to visit the mortuary lu order to identify eighteen bodies which are still unknown. It is stated that the cinematograph show was be.ng performed without Icense, and wthout any previous examination by the authorities. At Oastillon, the capital of the province, all theatres and public performances have been suspended as a sign of mourning. The funeral of victims will be held on Wednesday. Tha proprietor of the cinematograph show has been arrested. Pnrther particulars as to the fatal cinematograph fire at Villareal show that immedately on the outbreak the panic-strcken audience, seeing the usual exit choked up with flames, rushed to a little door at the opposite end of the building. Unfortunately the latter was closed, and the people were literally piled up against the barred exit, where they wore hemmed in by others, driven by the flames that were rapidly gaining on them. In spite of the must strenuous efforts to rescue the people thus hemmed in, almost all lost their lives, being either suffocated or burned to death. The majority of the corpses present a horrible appearance, and out cf the slxty-oue bodies recovered only twenty-two have been identified. Eighty-two persons were injured, of whom five are dying, and seven very badly burnt indeed.