Dozens Hurt Following Ceiling Collapse in London

Emergency services in London said close to 90 people had been injured Thursday night when a section of the ceiling at the Apollo Theatre in London collapsed during packed performance. The mishap brought to a standstill the entertainment district in the West End.

Audience members were showered with debris including pieces of masonry. The theater was filled with many families that were enjoying a popular family play.

In all, rescuers and emergency personnel said 88 people had been injured. They said 81 were walking wounded, many suffering injuries to the head, while there were seven others taken to local hospital with injuries that were more serious.

The local fire department said it was still too early to make a speculation on what caused the large section of ceiling to collapse. Police said they had no suggestion it could have been deliberate or an attack.

No indication was given it could have been caused by heavy storms in the area earlier that evening, but investigators worked through the evening attempting to find clues to why it happened.

The ceiling suddenly collapsed during the performance showering audience members and creating panic amongst those attending when everyone realized it was not part of the performance.

People started screaming and trying to flee as the theater filled with dust from the broken masonry.

Shaftesbury Avenue was blocked by emergency vehicles creating a traffic jam in the heart of the theater district in London, which has been packed by revelers on one of the year’s busiest nights in the run up week to Christmas.

A manager at a McDonald’s near the theater said that theater patrons started to run inside the restaurant, covered in dust.

He also said some paramedics brought people inside the restaurant covered in blankets with some arriving by stretcher.

Those injured and who needed attention were transported to a nearby hospital while others were helped to Gielgud Theatre while they waited for a bus or were able to walk to their cars.

On fireman said in his time of working with the department, he had not seen an incident similar

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Nancy Young

When I was younger I used to spend almost all of my free time playing computer games. My mom and dad would go mental over this. “You’re never going to do anything with your life if you are going to play games all day” they used to say. What was even more unusual was the fact that I played more games than most of the guys in my friend group. Looking back, I have to admit that I probably played a bit too much, but I also learned a lot of great things. When I turned 20 I decided that it was high-time to make some money of my own, but the only jobs I could get were that of waitress or cashier. How exciting. After several excruciating months of serving tables I had a great idea: since I love gaming so much, why don’t I write about it? That’s when I started doing small writing projects on Elance. Eventually, I got an offer for a part-time job. During that time I learned all about content marketing strategies and how search engines work. I started writing about various topics such as technology, health and lifestyle and discovered that I was actually good at it. On November 24, 2014, I became part of the ArgyllFreePress team.