Fire at Basirhat cinema hall

A fire broke out at a cinema hall in North 24 Parganas at Basirhat on Tuesday afternoon while a show was on. Panic spread among the spectators as they rushed out of the hall, shouting and screaming.

The local residents called up the fire brigade and joined hands with the fire fighters to douse the flame. A major portion of the cinema hall was destroyed but all spectators inside managed to come out.

Police said it was at around 3 pm when the spectators inside the hall saw smoke coming from behind the screen of Miloni cinema hall.

They informed the matter to the ticket checkers.

The latter and the employees of the hall witnessed the blaze behind the screen and told the spectators to leave the hall as quick as possible.

"It was an afternoon show and the number of spectators was not that huge. They came out from the hall without any major problem," said a police officer.

Two fire tenders managed to douse the flame within a few hours.

"The fire completely destroyed the lower floor of the hall, the chairs, sound systems and the screen. The upper floor of the hall was also partly affected," the officer added.

"Everybody was shouting inside the hall when the incident happened. I was initially scared that I found a long queue in front of me. But people managed to leave the place without any problem," said a spectator.