At least 29 people are dead after a fire destroyed a theatre in the Egyptian city of Beni Suef last night.
The fire broke out in the Culture Palace, a facility run by the Culture Ministry, on a downtown street of Beni Suef, a farming town of 200,000 people about 60 miles south of Cairo.
It is thought the fire started at about 11.45pm after an actor dislodged a candle which then started a fire that spread quickly across the set, which was made of paper.
Panicked audience members trampled each other trying to get out the one available exit door, which at one point was partially blocked by a piece of wood that fell during the fire, survivors said.
"The room became engulfed in flames. The flames were like an ocean spreading across the theater," said one survivor.
The bodies of at least 29 people were brought to the morgue at Beni Suef's main hospital; 37 people injured were also treated, and one police official said as many as 60 were injured.
The cultural center was on the third day of a nine-day theater festival featuring plays performed by troupes from around Egypt.
About 1,000 people were watching a theater group from the nearby region of Fayoum performing a play called "Grab Your Dreams" when the fire broke out.