Ceiling of London's Apollo Theatre
collapses
By Nic Robertson and Tom
Watkins, CNN
December 20, 2013 -- Updated 0116 GMT (0916 HKT)
London
(CNN) --
The hundreds of theatergoers who packed into Central London's historic Apollo
Theatre on Thursday night were expecting to watch a mystery.
But about
40 minutes into the play, shortly after 8 p.m., they got a drama instead.
"One
of the actors said, 'Watch out!'" said one woman. "We thought it was
part of the play."
It
wasn't. Instead, it was part of the century-old structure's ornate plaster
ceiling, which tumbled five stories onto the theatergoers, injuring scores of
them, seven seriously, officials said.
"We
heard a creak, somebody screamed, somebody from over there said, 'Look out!'
and then the ceiling kind of creased in the middle and then just
collapsed," said Hannah, who with her husband had snagged one of the last
pairs of tickets to the performance in the 775-seat theater.
Though
she said she herself felt "slight panic," she credited those around
her for keeping their calm. "It wasn't every man for himself," she
said, noting that several of her fellow theatergoers checked on those around
them. "Everyone was looking out for each other, and in a couple of
minutes, everyone was out."
London theater collapse
The London Fire Brigade's Kingsland Station
Manager Nick Harding said about 720 people were inside when a section of the
ceiling collapsed on the theatergoers, taking parts of the balconies with it.
An ambulance official said a total of 76
people had been injured, though many of them were treated at the scene and
released.
"It was like slow motion," said one
girl, who initially thought the sound of the falling ceiling was sound effects,
but soon learned otherwise. "It just kinda came down."
Harding said what fell was a
10-meter-by-10-meter square section of the ceiling, and that it dragged down
balconies with it.
"You initially thought it was part of
the play and then you could feel things on you," said an older woman.
"The dust that came down -- you couldn't see in front of you."
Metropolitan Police said those who were
seriously hurt had been taken to hospitals in central London. None of the
injuries appeared life threatening, one official said.
Within an hour, a spokesman for the fire
department said everyone, including those who had been hurt, had been evacuated
from the building.
Martin Bostock, who was with his wife and two
children, said he thought the cave-in was part of the show until something very
hard hit him on the head and chaos and panic erupted.
"You couldn't see across the room
because of the dust, which we were all breathing in," he told CNN.
"It was absolutely horrific and very terrifying. I was with my wife and
two kids. Thank God, we got out."
The Apollo is located next to Piccadilly
Circus in the Soho district, which is usually packed with tourists, shoppers
and diners at theater time.
Within minutes, paramedics arrived carrying
stretchers as police cordoned off the area.
A few minutes later, some of the paramedics
emerged from the theater, their stretcher full; others helped someone limp out
of the building.
Many of the injured were taken initially to
the nearby theaters for an initial assessment of their condition by medical
workers.
The initial police assessment of the collapse
was that it was an accident. "There is no suggestion at this stage that
this was as a result of a criminal act, however, at this stage we are keeping
an open mind," Metropolitan Police said in a statement.
Outside the Apollo, the street was packed
with dozens of police, fire and ambulance vehicles as well as well-dressed
theatergoers, some of their faces darkened with dust.
"The Curious Incident of the Dog in the
Night-Time," which was adapted to the theater from the 2003 mystery novel
by British writer Mark Haddon, is about a 15-year-old boy's investigation into
the death of a neighborhood dog.
Ticket prices at the four-level theater,
which opened its doors in 1901, included a £1 ($1.64) "theatre restoration
levy," the theater's website said. It was not immediately clear whether
the ceiling was part of the restoration of the building, which is owned and
operated by Nimax Theatres.
In a statement, a spokesman said the company
would "continue to cooperate fully with the authorities to establish
exactly what happened tonight."
Prime Minister David Cameron, in a tweet,
commended the fast work of emergency services.
Now, what started as a mystery and veered
into drama has again become a mystery, as engineers try to determine what
caused the collapse.
CNN's Nic Robertson in London reported, Tom
Watkins in Atlanta reported and wrote, Erin McLaughlin in London and Dana Ford
in Atlanta contributed to this report
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