Theater Blaze in India Kills 60, Injures 200

NEW DELHI — The fire started during a battle scene. Many of those watching the war movie assumed that the smoke billowing out from around the screen was a special effect--until they began having trouble breathing.

By then, it was too late for many.

Sixty people were killed and more than 200 injured in a fire Friday at a theater in a southern suburb of New Delhi, Indian police said. At least 12 of the dead were children.

Most of the victims suffocated from dense smoke caused by the burning ceiling insulation, an officer said.

The 1,000-seat movie theater was nearly full when the fire started soon after the intermission of “Border,” a new Hindi-language movie about the 1971 war between India and Pakistan.

Deputy Police Commissioner Maxwell Perreira said early today that a small fire had broken out Friday morning in the theater’s transformer, which hours later exploded during the premiere of the movie. He said police had filed charges against four managers of the theater for criminal negligence and that the four were to be arraigned today.

Balram Sharma, who was on the theater’s lower floor when the fire broke out, said that at first, people in the audience thought the smoke was a special effect.

At that point in the movie, the screen was filled with fiery images from a huge tank battle.

Most of the dead were trapped in the balcony. Moviegoers on the lower floor fled in panic. Groping their way in the dark, people broke windows and doors to get out.

“Many people ran into the bathroom of the second floor because that was the only lit area,” said Karan Kumar, 35, whose father, sister and an uncle died in the blaze.

“I don’t know how I escaped. I had caught hold of my aunt’s hand and rushed outside,” he said.

He said many people went back inside the theater to look for friends and relatives because firetrucks took at least 30 minutes to arrive.

At least three people jumped to the street from a second floor stairwell to escape the flames, said Pinikan Dinesh, who was inside when the fire broke out.