Residents pay tribute to victims of cinema fire in Syria’s Amuda
AMUDA, Syria (North press) – Residents of the town of Amuda, in the western countryside of Qamishli, northeastern Syria, recalled on Monday victims of the Shahrazad cinema fire on the 63rd anniversary of the tragedy.
On Nov. 13, 1960, around 500 children attended the cinema to watch a movie and, during the show, a fire broke out inside the cinema, quickly spreading and resulting in over 200 casualties.
The grieving families of the victims gathered inside the burned remnants of the cinema, holding pictures of the lost children as they somberly recalled that tragic incident.
Hana Khaled, a teacher in Amuda, told North Press, “This incident was not only related to one or two families but has become a painful memory for all the residents of Amuda. Everyone in the town set up mourning tents in front of their homes, grieving the tragic incident.”
She added that even the families whose children were not directly affected by the fire still carried a profound sense of sadness and pain in relation to that tragedy and its painful memory.
Muhammad Amin Abdulsalam, who was among the children present during the Amuda cinema fire, recalled the details of that day and said, “I was with the children watching a movie about the Algerian revolution in the cinema, and I miraculously survived that fire.”