MADRID INFERNO.

Auckland Star, Volume LIX, Issue 227, 25 September 1928, Page 7

MADRID INFERNO.

FRIGHTFUL BLAZE

Horrifying Scenes In Packed

Theatre Fire.

MADDENED AUDIENCE.

(Australian Press Assn.—United Service.)

LONDON, September 24

Further details of the Madrid catastrophe in which fire broke out in the theatre Novedadcs, reveal that the firemen had great difficulty in their efforts to grapple with the conflagration. The theatre contained a typical Sunday audience, who soon became panicstricken. The flames rapidly spread to old houses in the block and the firemen worked desperately to recover the bodies. Eleven were found in a heap in one corridor. The latest estimate gives the number of dead as 500. There were weird scenes as the flames from the burning theatre died down. The gas and electric street lamps were rendered useless by the destruction of the mains. The firemen and engineers worked with the aid of huge army flares. The Madrid correspondent of the "Daily Express" says the theatre was built of wood. It was the largest and oldest in Madrid. The fire broke out at the end of the second act of a topical comedy. An immediate panic followed and the doors were quickly jammed with dead bodies. At least 1000 people, chiefly those in the six tiers of the cheap balcony seats, were completely cut off from safety. Maddened men tried to hack their way through the living wall of bodies with knives and other weapons. Then a terrific explosion behind the stage added to the panic. The members of the orchestra bravely kept on playing until another explosion killed several of the musicians. Then the remainder were forced to flee. A vast crowd of people outside the theatre watched the fire helplessly. In spite of the snapping and the crackling of the flames, interspersed with explosions, the screams of the burning victims could be heard by the spectators. The police and firemen worked with frantic zeal to clear the doors, dragging crushed bodies into the street, but the panic-stricken people within trampled down new victims as fast as they could be extricated. Within the theatre the flames shot over the stalls and consumed the seats and fittings. Finally they reached the balconies. Some victims, mad with terror, rushed into the flames. Others flung themselves into the blazing pit. General de Rivera, who had reached the theatre a few minutes after the outbreak, took complete charge of the situation. A detachment of engineers from the garrison tried to cut holes in the walls of the building with axes, to allow, the imprisoned people to escape, but this was only partially successful. The theatre was still burning fiercely at midnight. A Madrid message states that while the fire in the city was at its height some people were seen with their clothes ablaze struggling to escape from the theatre. One frantic man, badly injured, rushed about asking the whereabouts of his wife and five children, with whom he had been celebrating his birthday. On one of the landings 25 bodies were visible huddled together. The theatre fire burned out just before dawn. The firemen are now concentrating their efforts on the fire in the residential buildings in the block. So far 45 bodies have been recovered. The injured total 350. 11 ' '