WORLD : 18 Die in China Theater Melee

A melee that broke out after a movie theater sold too many tickets left 18 people trampled to death and 34 injured in a southern Chinese village, a local newspaper reported. The newspaper, which arrived in Beijing today, said chaos erupted Monday night as people tried to cram into the only door of an open-air theater in the village of Wanfeng, near the city of Shenzhen in Guangdong province.

The Yangcheng Evening News reported that the privately operated theater holds 600 people. But the newspaper said the theater had sold nearly 1,000 tickets for a showing of the Taiwanese movie, “Mama, Love Me Again.”

Moviegoers tried to force their way into the theater for a late-night performance while the audience from an earlier showing was leaving, the newspaper said. The crowd began to panic and 52 people were trampled, it said.