London theater collapse

[Hum]

Seventy-six people have been injured, seven seriously, after part of a ceiling in London's Apollo Theatre collapsed during a show, police say.

The venue in Shaftesbury Avenue was packed for a performance of The Curious Incident Of The Dog in the Night-Time.

Eyewitnesses heard "a crackling" noise before the collapse at about 20:15 GMT. Theatre-goers left covered in debris.

The Apollo's owner described it as a "shocking and upsetting" incident and said an investigation was under way.

A total of 51 people were taken to hospital but there were no life-threatening injuries.

The London Ambulance Service said there were 81 walking wounded and that all those who were trapped earlier had been freed.

It said 25 ambulance crews and an air ambulance attended the scene.

London Fire Brigade said its "search is now complete" and the theatre has been sealed off.

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[Growled Member]

That is just horrible.

[+virtorio MVC]

Performances were so great they literally brought down the house.

[FlintyV]

Performances were so great they literally brought down the house.

:/ In poor taste. 

[Tomoko]

That's terrible. It's good to hear that no one was killed though.

[DocM]

Wow....horrid. Hopes & prayers for all concerned.

I see it was built in 1901. What kind of regular structural inspections are done on public/commercial buildings of that age in the UK?

[FloatingFatMan]

As far as I know, annual inspections are the norm. Looks like someone missed something!

[Hum]

Amazing that they ignored the 'crackling'.

 

Bless the injured.

[FloatingFatMan]

Amazing that they ignored the 'crackling'.

 

Bless the injured.

 

From the descriptions I've read, the "crackling" was literally seconds before the collapse... Clearly, it was the sound of wood or brick giving way.

[Steven P. Administrators]

Saw on the news this morning, hopefully those seriously injured pull through ok.

[Arachno 1D]

Buildings of such age are normally undergoing continuous repairs so Id take a wager the damage had been noted but the risk was deemed not worthy of note.

[leesmithg]

Rain, 15% of 30 days (one month) fell in London in 60 minutes.

 

Their certificate was up-to-date and it was just one of those things.

[Sandor]

Performances were so great they literally brought down the house.

Nearly 2edgy4me but not quite.

[i11usive]

My missus and I saw Thriller Live in the Lyric Theatre on Shaftesbury Avenue on Sunday night --- literally a couple of doors down from the Apollo. We even stopped outside the theatre to see what the show, "The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time", was all about......

[nrjperera]

What a devastating story. Thank god everyone's alive.