A cinema fire in Turin, Italy, kills 64 people.
Cinema Statuto was a movie theater located in Turin, Italy, when on 13 February 1983, at 18:15, during the projection of La Chèvre, a fire caused the death of 64 people as a result of smoke inhalation. According to statements by Raimondo Capella, the owner of the cinema, the flames spread from an old curtain.As declared in February 2018 by Barbara Guaschetti, one of the survivors, the spectators sitting in the lower hall managed to escape through the main entrance and the only emergency exit at the ground floor that wasn't closed and locked.
Most of the victims were among the viewers sitting in the upper Gallery who didn't realize what was happening till it was too late. The owner of the cinema didn't turn the emergency lights on and didn't stop the screening because he feared «a wave of panic». Those in the balcony who had tried to reach the stairs found that the only way out was already blocked by flames, others fled to the toilets and died there. A few bodies were found still seated. All died because they could not avoid the fumes of Hydrogen cyanide, a product of combustion of fire-resistant fabric chairs. As remembered by one of the firefighters who was on the scene, they had to force open the emergency exits on the first floor because they were all locked.
The owner of the cinema, Raimondo Capella, was sentenced to eight years in first grade, and two years in second grade, and to compensate the relatives of the victims with a sum of 3 billion of lire (€1.54 million). All his assets were seized.This was the largest disaster to have occurred after World War II in Turin. The youngest victim was 7 years old, the oldest was 55 years old. There were nine orphans. The accident prompted a wave of reforms in the laws about public buildings, making fireproof materials and firefighting equipment mandatory for every public space.