A FIRE DISASTER

Hokitika Guardian, 25 September 1928, Page 5

A FIRE DISASTER

IN MADRID THEATRE. HUNDREDS OF CASUALTIES. (United Press Association—By Electric Telegraph—Copyright). MADRID, Sept. 23. Many persons were burned to death in a fire which broke out during a performance in the N'ovedates Theatre in one of the most populous quarters of the city. The auditorium, which holds several hundreds, was packed. As the curtain was raised, the fire burst through over the sinlls. Immediately, in a panic, the audience rushed for the exits. The theatre being an old one, the exits could not deal with the crowds.

The place was quickly gutted, and likewise the whole street clock. On hearing of tho affair, which is of the nature of a catastrophe, the Premier, General De Rivera, and the municipal authorities visited the blazing street. 1 ' ;

All of the Madrid first-aid. stations are filled with the injured. Every available motor car was requisitioned.

GREAT PANIC CAUSED. A FEARFUL SCENE. LONDON, Sept. 24. The Daily Express Madrid correspondent states: It is feared that at least three hundred have been killed in the holocaust at Novedates Theatre which seated .three thousand people. It was built of wood being the largest and oldest theatre in Madrid. The fire broke out at the end of the second act of a topical comedy. An immediate panic followed. The doors were quickly jammed with dead bodies. .

At least one thousand people, chiefly in the six tiers of cheap balcony seats, were ; competely cut off from safety. Maddened men tried to hack their way through a living wall of bodies with knives and other weapons. Then a terrific explosion, behind the stage, added to the panic. The orchestra bravely kept on playing until another explosion killed several of the musicians. Then they were forced to flyMeanwhile a vast crowd outside watched the catastrophe, helplessly, despite the snapping and crackling flames, interspersed with explosions. The screams of the burning victims could be heard by the spectators. The polios and the firemen worked with frantic zeal to clear the doors, dragging out crushed bodies into the streets, 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, consuming the seats and fittings, and finally reaching the balconies. Some of the victims mad with terror, rushed into, the flames. Others flung themselves into the blazing pit. General De Rivera, the Premier of Spain, reached the theatre a few minutes after the outbreak. He took complete charge of the situation. A detachment of engineers from the garrison tried to cut holes in the walls of the buiding with axes, and thus allow the imprisoned people to escape, but this endeavour was only partially successful The theatre was still burning fiercely at midnight.

FIVE HUNDRED DEAD. MADRID, Sept. 24. The firemen had great difficulty in coping with the outbreak, which spread to the old houses around the theatre. The theatre was packed to the doors with a typical Sunday audience. The firemen have been working desperately to recover the bodies. Eleven iMxlies were found in a heap in one corridor. The latest estimate is that five hundred people are dead. There were weird (scenes as the flames of the burning theatre died down'. The gas and the electric street lamps were rendered useless by the destruction of the mains. The firemen and the engineers worked with the aid of huge army flames. It is impossible, however, to make any real search until dawn. General De Rivera, the Premier, is still on the scene. SHOCKING SIGHTS. (Received this day at 8 a.m.) Madrid, sept. 25. While the flames were at their height, some were seen with their clothes ablaze straggling to escape. A frantic man, badly injured, was rushing about asking for the whereabouts of his wife and five children, wherewith lie was celebrating his birthday. On one landing 25 huddled bodies were visible. The theatre burned out just before dawn, whereafter the firemen were concentrating on the residential conflagration.

THE DEATH ROLL.

MADRID, Sept. 24. Forty-five bodies had been recovered at dawn and 350 injured.

A FEARFUL SCENE. RESCUERS AWFUL SIGHT. (Received this dav at 10.30. a.m.) LONDON, Sept. 24. It is thought doubtful if the Madrid death roll will reach the first staggering estimate. As a story of horror it is the woist in Europe for years. • The disaster was due to the short

circuiting of one of the lamps amid the scenery. Two minutes later the stage was an inferno, belching black sihoke into the auditorium, where an audience, fortunately only one third of the theatre’s .capacity, sat momentarily benumbed. Then there was a wild panic. They jumped from the galleries and jammed the exit and fought with frenzy, the weaker going down instantly. Many were suffocated before they were overtaken by the flames.

The first rescuers entered the main door, where a pile "ol bodies were incinerated, including .eleven girls and two boys, twenty-five men, twenty-two women and also seven rescuing policemen , There were horrible discoveries when the dead were reached. Some bad revolver wounds, suggesting they had committed suicide, in preference to the more awful death. Others had knife wounds testifying to their mad struggle to escape.

SHOCKING PARTICULARS. FIGHTING FOR LIFE. (Received this day at 1.5 p.m.' LONDON, September 24. . Five bodies were recovered with knives clutched in their hands. They were evidently those of men who attempted to fight their way to the exits. One bad a large knife wound in the body. It is not known whether he committed suicide or was wounded in the struggle for life. Another case is that of a mother, together with several children, who were found in the ruins, the mother having a bullet wound in the head. A Toledo man saw' the w r ife and four children die, and pulled out a revolver and committed suicide. Many of the injured in the hospitals are not expected to recover. Some were blinded by the. flames and others are dumb, apparently from terror. Most of the bodies are blue and black from braises, due to being trampled on. In some cases bodies were, found locked as though in a last fight for, life. A father of a family of eight had been enquiring anxiously at all the hospitals for his wife and children, who were in a box. Apparently all perished. A third husband recognised the body of his recently-married wife and six other elatives. Novedudes is the seventh theatre which has been burnt dowm during the last fifteen years. The authorities had filed seven reports regarding Novedades instability. A Cabinet meeting to-morrow will decide relief measures. Cafe bands in the neighbourhood of the fire have been forbidden to play music for two days.

LATEST NEWS. (Received this dav at 1.30 p.m.) MADRID, September 24. Three engineers who escaped from the fire among the last of the survivors, said the men and women behaved like wild beasts. Women and children were hurled to the ground and trampled upon. It was a triumph of the strongest. Apparently the fire hoses did not function and the safety curtain w r as absent. Most of the deaths were due to the collapse of a staircase. Two small children were found to-day, unhurt, mi a lavatory where they had taken refuge all night. .. . The authorities are of the opinion that it was a mistake to continue the performance with a view to allaying panic. Two invaluable minutes were lost when the flames flared up in the auditorium.

Some bodies hear knife wounds and even bites in the hack.