Stampede
Shanghai
New Year stampede kills 36
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(Xinhua/chinadaily.com.cn)Updated: 2015-01-01
18:51
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The Sina
Weibo photo shows a stampede scene in the Bund as people celebrate New Year
in Shanghai, Jan 1, 2015. [Photo/Sina
Weibo]
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The
death toll of a fatal stampede during New Year celebrations late Wednesday in
Shanghai rose to 36 as of Thursday afternoon, local authorities said.
Seven
injured have checked out of the hospital. Among the 40 injured being treated in
local hospitals, 13 are suffering from serious injuries, the municipal
government said.
The
tragedy happened at a crowded square in Shanghai's gleaming Bund area at around
11:35 pm. There were 25 women among the deceased whose ages ranged from 16 to
36, said the authorities in Shanghai, a metropolis that is home to over 23
million people.
"The
steps leading to the platform were full of people. Some wanted to get down and
some wanted to go up," said a witness who gave her surname as Yin.
"We were caught in the middle and saw some girls falling while screaming.
Then people started to fall down, row by row."
"The
crowd was in a panic. We stood in the crowd, feeling squeezed and almost out of
breath," another witness, surnamed Yu, said. "Some yelled for help,
but the noise was too loud."
Other
witnesses said police rushed to the scene and tried to pull out people who were
stuck, but without much success.
Some
survivors said the stampede was triggered when people started to throw coupons
resembling US banknotes to revelers outside a bar.
They
said coupons with "M18" - the same name as a bar on the Bund -
printed in the middle were thrown from a building's third-floor window near the
Bund.
The
bar could not be reached at the moment and local police said what caused the
stampede is still being investigated.
Shanghai
has canceled all New Year celebrations in the city, according to a report by
eastday.com.
The
city has set up a working team for rescue operations and to deal with the
aftermath.
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