A disused movie theater in downtown Toronto collapsed into a next-door language school on Monday morning, killing one person and injuring 14, city officials said.  

The injured, including three children, were pulled from the debris and transported to nearby hospitals. About 100 rescue workers with dogs were searching through the rubble to see if anyone was still trapped.

The building, the Uptown Theater, was closed in September and was in the process of being demolished.

Demolition workers were among those rescued after the back of the theater tumbled into the English as a second language school, said Toronto Fire Chief Bill Stewart.

Police said the one fatality was an adult male and was confirmed dead on the scene.

"With the amount of debris that's in the structure, it's going to be very painstaking and it's going to take an immense amount of time to be able to get into the rubble," Stewart said.

The Uptown, on the edge of one of Toronto's most fashionable shopping districts, collapsed at mid-morning, sliding through the roof of the next-door language school.

Police closed off nearby streets, festooned with Christmas decorations. With the temperature around the freezing mark, holiday shoppers watched the rescue operations from behind police barriers.

The Uptown opened in 1920 as a vaudeville house and movie theater. It was damaged by fire in 1960, and by its final years was looking the worse for wear, with dusty chandeliers and chipped, fading gilt paint.

The theater showed its last film during this year's Toronto International Film Festival and developers plan to erect a five-story condominium building on the site.

(China Daily December 9, 2003)