More than 80 people have been injured in a ceiling collapse at a theatre during a performance in the heart of London.
Apollo Theatre, one of the popular venues in the city's West End theatre district, was packed with audience for yesterday's evening show of 'The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time', when eyewitnesses reported hearing a "crackling" sound.
Ambulance service said there were 81 "walking wounded" and that all those who had been trapped inside were freed.
Some 25 ambulance crews and an air ambulance attended the scene, it added.
The Fire Brigade said four people were seriously injured but none have life-threatening injuries and its "search is now complete" with the theatre being sealed off.
"A section of the theatre's ceiling collapsed onto the audience who were watching the show. The ceiling took parts of the balconies down with it," said Kingsland Fire Brigade station manager Nick Harding.
"Firefighters worked really hard in very difficult conditions and I'd like to pay tribute to them. They rescued people from the theatre, made the area safe and then helped ambulance crews with the injured. In my time as a fire officer, I've never seen an incident like this."
"I imagine lots of people were out enjoying the show in the run-up to Christmas. My thoughts go out to all those affected," he added.
The historic theatre, named after the Greek and Roman god of the arts, opened in 1901. It seats 755 on four levels and the balcony on the third tier is considered the steepest in London.
Martin Bostock, who was in the theatre, told 'Sky News': "I was in the stalls with my family in the early stages of the show. I think the front part of the balcony fell down. At first we thought it was part of the show, it was very dramatic."
"We got out with cuts and bruises, I think most people did."
An Indian-origin theatre-goer Khalil Anjarwalla told the BBC that his heavily pregnant wife and her parents managed to escape from the theatre safely after "kilos of concrete plummeted from the ceiling.
