MANY BURNED TO DEATH IN ITALIAN CINEMA DISASTER

Manawatu Times, Volume LIII, Issue 6545, 29 February 1928, Page 7

MANY BURNED TO DEATH IN ITALIAN CINEMA DISASTER

Improvised Village Theatre Razed by Fire FORTY EXTRICATED FROM RUINS \ [By Electric Cable-Copyright.] lAust. and N.Z. Cable Association-] (Received Tuesday, 7.15 p.m.) ROME, Eeb. 38. A cinema fire at Moriago resulted in a shocking disaster. The number of deaths is not ascertained, but is believed to be considerable, including many children. The display was given on the first floor of an old granary constructed of wood at which , there were three hundred spectators. The film caught fire and the operator’s wooden cabin was quickly ablaze. The hall filled with smoke. Men, women and children rushed to the single wooden staircase, which collapsed, the podesta and the proprietor vainly trying to calm the maddened crowd. Many were thus burned to death, asphyxiated or crushed to death. Meanwhile there were terrible scenes in the village. Mothers rushing to sec if their children were safe were unable to approach the burning building. Moriago has ’no fire brigade end when firemen arrived from Treviso the building was h, mass of cinders. Thus far forty bodies have been extricated from the ruins. The podesta and his wife escaped by jumping from a window.