Stampede at German Love Parade festival kills 15

[twissie]

It's been 10 years since the tragic accident at the Roskile Festival in Denmark, and now this happens...



http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-10751899

At least 15 people have been killed at the Love Parade electronic music festival in the German city of Duisburg, police have said.
Police had been trying to stop people reaching the parade area because of overcrowding.
But the revellers panicked at a tunnel entrance. About 100 people were also injured, dozens seriously.
Organisers had said they expected more than one million people to attend the event.

The stampede occurred at about 1700 local time (1500 GMT).
At least 10 people were resuscitated at the scene.

Emergency workers reportedly had difficulty reaching those crushed.
One festival-goer, named Marius, told the Bild newspaper: "There was no escape. People were pressed into the wall. I was afraid I'd die."
Another man told local television: "The pressure from behind become so high that... we couldn't do anything any more. People were just pushed together until they fell over."

Police closed off an elevated motorway bridge to allow helicopters to land and evacuate victims.
City officials were said to have chosen not to evacuate the grounds of the day-long festival immediately, fearing it might spark more panic.

It's things like this that make me very wary about attending big festivals and concerts. The tragedy at Roskilde 10 years ago really shook me, and I wasn't even there...

My thoughts go out to the friends and families of all the victims.

[OpsMonkey]

yeah it's those kind of tragedies that make me wary of going to events like that as well. just one little thing can set off a chain of disasterous consequences.

[twissie]

Number of casualties now adjusted to "at least 18" ..... wow.

[shurastriker]

i watched some photos of the festival (before all this) and i was very surprised by the amount of people on the streets... Organizers said they aren't doing this festival ever again in respect of the victims

[usa~sayu]

This is truly awful. RIP to the victims. And btw, the number of deads increased to about 19 I think.

But what I find almost near as awful is that the responsibility gets pushed from here to there. First the police was blamed for not having enough forces there (a police officer said they were informed about the plan of the festival only on the day the festival was held!), then the actual organizers were blamed (who really are guilty imo) for not organizing it well enough (like, it was opened later than planned so that crowds formed and such which led to this extent). And now the head of the city is asked to step back but he refuses to because he didn't sign anything regarding the festival.

Really, those organizers should be brought to court for this.

Because of such a**holes our country's reputation sinks even more than it already has

[BX_LeMans]

The problem is, the only way in and out was ONE tunnel. The place itself was suited for max 400.000 people but awaited were more than one million. The place was exept of this on small way a completely closed factory/trainstation complex. No ways for people to flee, no way for security to get in and help the people.

To blame is the organizer and the authorities for only thinking, how they get money out of this without listening to the many warnings about the place, the entryways and other problems.

They were told before that exatly that could and would happen.

[khoonah]

Wow. I agree Usa~sayu, those organizers most definitely should be punished for this. Death Toll is up to 21 now. I hear the mayor of the city might be forced to resign, but its the organizers that really should be punished. Ironic how something like this happens at something called the "Love Parade" festival...