Part of the ceiling in the Apollo
Theatre in central London collapsed during a performance, seriously injuring 20
to 40 people, five of them seriously, officials said.
Metropolitan
Police said in a tweet that those who were seriously hurt had been taken to
hospitals in central London, and that there was no immediate indication of
fatalities.
Authorities
responded to the report at about 8:15 p.m., police said in a tweet.
Within an hour,
a spokesman for the fire department said all of the people who had been hurt --
estimated at 20 to 40 -- had been freed from the building, which was at or near
its 775-seat capacity, as is customary during the Christmas season.
The Apollo is
located next to Picadilly Circus in the Soho district, which is usually packed
with tourists, shoppers and diners at theater time.
Paramedics
arrived carrying stretchers as police cordoned off the area.
A 29-year-old
theatergoer named Hannah told CNN that she witnessed the event, which occurred
about 40 minutes into the show, from Row E, near the front.
She said it started
slowly, then accelerated as it dropped plaster and wood on the crowd. She said
she heard someone say that a woman had broken her leg and she saw people with
cuts and scrapes. But, she added, people made their way out of the building in
an orderly manner.
Many were taken
initially to the Lyric Theatre, located next door.
As she spoke,
dozens and dozens of police, fire and ambulance vehicles filled the street in
front of the theater.
The theater's
website said "The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time" had
been playing," which it described as "a thrilling new stage play from
the National Theatre."
Culled from cnn.com
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