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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Smoke Real At War Film: 60 Killed, Hundreds Hurt

Associated Press

The fire started during a battle scene. Many of those watching the war movie assumed the black 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 the Uphaar theater in a suburb of New Delhi, police said. At least 12 of the dead were children.

Most of the victims suffocated on the dense smoke from the burning ceiling insulation, said Maxwell Pereira, a senior police officer.

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

Investigators said the fire broke out in an electric generator in the stage area.

At first people in the audience thought the smoke was a special effect, said Balram Sharma, who was on the theater’s lower floor.

At that point in the movie, the screen was filled with fiery images from a huge tank battle that was an important victory for India.

Most of the dead were trapped in the balcony, when the false ceilings in the hall caught fire and billowed noxious smoke into the upper level.