|
Fire at Egypt theater kills at least 32
(AP)
Updated: 2005-09-06 20:50
An actor knocked over a candle on a stage filled with billowing paper,
starting a blaze that killed at least 32 people, many as they struggled to
escape the packed theater through the only available exit, officials said.
Egypt's health minister said he expected an investigation to examine why so
many people died in the fire late Monday at the Culture Palace in Beni Suef, a
town 60 miles south of Cairo.
Health Minister Mohammed Awad Tag Eddin said Tuesday he expected an
investigation to examine both the fire's cause and why so many people died.
Fire codes will also be considered in the investigation, said Mustafa Alwy, a
high-ranking official in the culture ministry, which runs the theater. Egypt
requires safety measures such as fire extinguishers but does not strictly
enforce them.
Sixty people were injured in the fire, and 36 remained hospitalized Tuesday
morning. Eighteen people were in critical condition, said security officials who
spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to the
media.
Officials believe the fire began with the toppled candle, then spread quickly
to the stage set, which was lined with paper bags to look like a cave. Audience
members trampled each other trying to get out the one door, which was partially
blocked by a piece of wood.
The theater had another exit but it was covered in the same paper as the set
and had caught fire, so the crowd rushed for the other, said Mohammed Arafat
Yassin, 27, while recovering at Beni Suef hospital.
"Everyone was trying to save themselves and they were falling all over each
other," he said. "It was like being inside a barbecue grill. Everyone was
burning."
The theater, a cement building, was gutted.
The 32 dead included three actors who were performing and two journalists
covering the play, security officials said.
The cultural center was on the third day of a nine-day theater festival
featuring plays by troupes from around Egypt.
About 1,000 people were watching a theater group from nearby Fayoum perform
"Grab Your Dreams," when the fire broke out about 11:45 p.m. Monday.
The troupe's director, who had designed the set, was among those killed, said
theater director Samir Khalili.
The play was set in a zoo, and the stage was made to look like a cave inside
one of the animal cages: The ceiling, floor and walls were covered with paper
bags painted to resemble stone, and in the middle of the stage was a "mountain"
also made of paper. There were candles all over the set, survivors said.
In the final scene, one of the actors was shaking another character to wake
him, and the movement knocked over one candle, said Yassin, a lawyer and the
director of another play in the festival.
"The room became engulfed in flames. The flames were like an ocean spreading
across the theater," said another survivor, Mohammed el-Amrousi, 23, an acting
student.
The fire was the deadliest in Egypt since a blaze tore through a crowded
passenger train on Feb. 20, 2002, south of Cairo, killing 370 people.
|
 | | | Rescue continues in New Orleans | | |  | | | Egyptian presidential election campaigns conclude | | |  | | | Bush orders more troops to secure New Orleans | | |
|
| |
 |
|
|
|
|
Today's
Top News |
|
|
|
Top World
News |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
