PATHE SOUND FILM STUDIO BURNS, CAUSING DEATHS OF NINE MEN AND WOMEN.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 18941, 11 December 1929, Page 1

PATHE SOUND FILM STUDIO BURNS, CAUSING DEATHS OF NINE MEN AND WOMEN.

Girls Rush Screaming From DressingRooms Following Seven Explosions. (United Press Association.—By Electrlo Telegraph—Copyright.) (Received December 11, P. 5 a.m.) NEW YORK, December 10. At least nine persons, consisting of five men and four women, were killed when a series of seven explosions of unknown origin wrecked and burned the Pathe sound film studio. Seventy-five people were in the building, over twenty being all ready to start recording, when the first explosion occurred, rapidly followed by six more. These people attempted to rush the exits as did fifty lightly-clad girls from an upstairs dressing-room, but the swiftly mounting and spreading flames prevented many escaping. Large quantities of fire apparatus and also ambulances, were rushed to the scene, but it was twenty-five minutes before the firemen were able to enter the building owing to the immense heat. There were scenes of utter confusion, some women screaming and others shivering with the cold, until sheltered by nearby firemen and others. Then began the removal of the dead and injured to the morgues and hospitals.