It is lucky more people were not injured when part of a ceiling collapsed at a packed theatre, London Fire Brigade has said.
Seventy six people were hurt when ornate plasterwork at the Apollo fell during a production of The Curious Incident Of The Dog In The Night-Time.
Reports suggested water dripped through ceiling cracks before it fell.
Westminster City Council is expected to report later on a structural assessment of the 112-year-old West End theatre.
'It was horrific'One line of inquiry will be the effect of adverse weather on the Grade II-listed building on Shaftesbury Avenue.
At the scene
Katy Watson BBC News
The billboard outside the theatre says 'full house' - but now, just two policeman stand guard outside the Apollo theatre which has been cordoned off with police tape.
Shaftesbury Avenue is getting back to normal though - London buses have resumed their routes, tourist coaches are ferrying visitors through central London and commuters are on their way to work.
There was a thunderstorm and a heavy rain burst in London on Thursday evening with a high number of lightning strikes across the capital.
Seven of those hurt during the collapse were said to have serious injuries. Two people remain in hospital.
Nick Harding from London Fire Brigade said: "I think it's fortunate that more people weren't injured by this.
"I've never seen anything like this in my 19 years in the fire service.
"It's a testament to all the emergency services, including the fire brigade, who were very quickly able to get people out of the building."
The collapse happened at 20:15 GMT on Thursday when the theatre was almost full, with 720 people watching the performance.
Chris Edwards and his son and daughter-in-law were among those injured.
Mr Edwards said: "I first heard cracking, then looked up to see a big part of the roof coming down. It was horrific.
"Larger pieces hit my younger son and he's still in hospital with a broken collar bone and suspected damage to his spine.
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The BBC was filming with the London Ambulance Service when they were called to help treat the injured
"I tried to cover my daughter-in-law, who is pregnant, to protect her but some of the debris fell on her back. Thankfully she and the baby are safe.
"I have cuts and bruises myself, but we believe we have been very lucky. But I am really angry about this too. It was so lucky that someone wasn't killed."
Dermot Kavanagh was sitting in the balcony.
"The whole row stood up and there were suppressed murmurs and shrieks and shortly after that there was this large ornate ceiling rose with a chandelier in the middle just came down and a huge brownish grey cloud of dust came up from the stalls," he said.
'Swift and effective'Mark Haddon, author of the book on which the play is based, tweeted: "It's been horrifying sitting here watching what has been happening at the Apollo this evening. I'm hugely relieved that no-one has died."
The emergency response included 25 ambulance crews, an air ambulance rapid response team, police officers and eight fire engines with more than 50 firefighters.
Three London buses were commandeered to take patients to hospital.
Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Trust said 34 adults and five children were treated in accident and emergency at St Thomas' Hospital.
Apollo Theatre
- The Grade II-listed theatre is owned and operated by Nimax Theatres
- It has 775 seats over four levels
- Some 480 of the seats are located on the stalls, dress and circle levels
- Named after the Greek god of the arts and leader of the muses, because it was designed and built as a venue for musical entertainment
- The Apollo Theatre first opened its doors in February 1901
The majority had cuts and bruises but a small number had fractures. The three most seriously hurt victims had injuries to their neck and back, or head.
'Extremely rare'Nimax, the theatre's owner described the incident as "shocking and upsetting" and said its "thoughts are with the audience and staff".
Mhora Samuel, from The Theatres Trust, said: "Thankfully occurrences of theatre ceiling and plasterwork collapse are extremely rare.
"The public should be reassured that theatre owners carry out regular plasterwork inspections and maintenance regimes to ensure the safety of their buildings."
The Society of London Theatre (SOLT) said all the major theatre owners had confirmed their safety inspections and certificates were up to date and all other London theatres remained open for business.
Performances at the Apollo have been cancelled until 4 January and customers should contact their point of purchase to arrange exchanges or refunds, said SOLT.
'Significant renovation'Mark Field, Conservative MP for Cities of London and Westminster said: "Clearly quite a lot of Theatreland does go back 100 years or more.
"There's been a significant programme of renovation in the last 10 years, but given that we've got 40 or 50 theatres in the whole West End clearly it won't have applied necessarily to every one of them."
The Curious Incident Of The Dog In The Night-Time has been running in London since August 2012.
The show started at the National Theatre, before transferring to the Apollo in March this year.
Nimax Theatres also runs the Garrick, Duchess and Vaudeville theatres.
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