July 24, 201016 yr 19 crushed to death and more than 300 injured after mass panic at Germany's Love Parade By Christopher Leake Last updated at 8:45 AM on 25th July 2010 Comments (19) Add to My Stories Crush began after 'police tried to restrict access to area'Revellers attempted to climb walls to escape sceneAt least 80 others injured, 20 in serious condition Nineteen people were killed and 340 injured last night when mass panic broke out at a German music festival. The victims were crushed and emergency workers had trouble getting through to them after a stampede during the annual Love Parade techno music festival in the city of Duisburg, attended by up to 1.4million people. Witnesses described piles of bodies stacked on top of each other and revellers climbing walls to escape the crush. Death toll: Seventeen people died in a tunnel in the city of Duisburg, Germany after a crush in this tunnel at the Love Parade festival One man slumps to the ground exhausted after escaping the crush (left) while a woman has to be helped away by friends Many were pinned shoulder to shoulder in the tunnel and unable to move. People standing on the motorway bridge above the scene could only watch helpless as at least 15 were crushed to death. Duisburg police director Ralf Klauckmass said there had been ‘mass panic’. The stampede broke out after authorities tried to stop thousands from entering the area where the parade was being held in the grounds of an old freight depot. Police said that of the 80 people who were hurt, at least 20 were severely injured. Foreign Office officials said it was not known last night if any Britons were among the dead at the popular festival north of Dusseldorf. But it is thought large numbers of British fans were in the audience. Desperate: Revellers clung on to stairs and tried to climb walls to escape the crush which began after thousands entered the tunnel Eyewitnesses told last night of the stampede. ‘It was hell,’ said Karl Lowenstein, 21, who was in the tunnel. ‘It was dark and it was full. Something happened – whether someone tripped or someone fell I don’t know. 'But there was a stampede to get to the other end and those who fell, well, many of them never got up again.’ Kevin Krausgartner, 21, said: ‘I have never seen anything like it. I saw 25 people piled on top of one another in a huge heap. I cried. ‘People couldn’t get any air. I saw the dead there. One person was completely pale and I wanted to give him some water, but a medic said that wouldn’t help him – he was gone. I saw police on the bridge just standing there. They didn’t do anything.’ Horrific: Two bodies lie covered by blankets at the entrance to the tunnel on the industrial estate Emergency: Police run to the scene of the crush but there was little that could be done for some victims 'There was no escape,' one Love Parade participant named Marius told the Bild.de website. 'People were pressed into the wall. I was afraid I'd die.' One woman raver told Bild: 'I was lucky. I found a hole to escape through but two women were killed right next to me.' Another man described trying to give one of the injured water to be told by a rescue worker 'don't bother with him, he's dead.' One woman said getting through the tunnel as 'trying to pass through the eye of a needle.' 'The tunnel was too narrow to cope with the number of people taking the short-cut and should have been closed by crowd controllers before the parade even began,' she said. There were scenes of complete chaos (left) as revellers tried desperately to escape the area: Ambulances were lined up to ferry the injured to hospital Breakdown in crowd control: A general view of the area in the shows how many people were crammed into the tunnel at the time of the crush Emergency services tend to the injured: 'In the tunnel people couldn't move - they couldn't go backwards or forwards and that's when the panic broke out' Police and ambulance workers were later seen giving the kiss of life to victims. Many people continued partying as the air was filled with the noise of emergency sirens, unaware of the tragedy taking place. Rescue squads had to fight their way through an ocean of people but ten other victims were resuscitated. A state of emergency was declared in the city last night. Although more than 1,200 police officers were on duty, they said they were powerless to prevent the tragedy. A police spokesman said: ‘It is a catastrophe that we are struggling to cope with.’ Police commissioner Jurgen Kieskemper said: ‘The situation is chaotic.’ He later added it was a ‘miracle’ that the number of wounded was ‘quite low’. Rescue: An injured woman is carried away on a stretcher before being taken to hospital Walking wounded: Revellers walk away from the scene after escaping with minor injuries Another witness, named as Fabio, claimed he tried to warn police before the stampede that trouble was brewing. ‘A friend and I got out as hundreds more poured in,’ he said. ‘We tried to tell the police to close it down but they didn’t listen. This was 45 minutes before people were killed.’ People had been using the tunnel as a short-cut on the Love Parade, which consisted of 15 floats which set off at 2pm. Despite the scale of the tragedy unfolding at the entrance to a former freight rail station, the one-day techno festival continued as planned. Organisers feared cancelling the event would only cause a second panic. Over 1.5 million revellers had gathered for the annual techno music festival in Duisburg, which is near Dusseldorf. Popular: Around 1.5million people were attending this year's Love Parade which used to be held in Berlin It had emerged that police had warned Love Parade organisers that there would be problems with crowd control if this year's event was held in the city centre. Instead, the festival was moved a mile out of Duisburg to a less enclosed area. But the decision appears to have backfired. They told revellers over loudspeakers to turn around and walk back in the direction they had come from before the panic broke out, he said. Meanwhile other revellers, still oblivious to the tragic events unfolding in another part of the parade, continue to party. The Love Parade was once an institution in Berlin, but has been held in the industrial Ruhr region of western Germany since 2007. The original Berlin Love Parade grew from a 1989 peace demonstration into a huge outdoor celebration of club culture that drew about 1.5 million people at its peak in 1999. But it suffered from financial problems and tensions with city officials in later years, and eventually moved. Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldnews/article-1297346/Love-Parade-17-crushed-death-80-injured-mass-panic-tunnel.html#ixzz0ugDUSzva
July 24, 201016 yr Author This is extremely shocking indeed! I went to a pre-Love Parade party yesterday evening, and even considered going to the Parade itself! Looks like it's a good job I didn't!:stunned:
July 24, 201016 yr Oh my god. I just saw this on the TV and I'm really shocked. Fortunately none of my friends who went to this festival were harmed. R.I.P. to all the people who died such a horrible death :(
July 24, 201016 yr Author Yes the German TV moderator said that as well. Doesn't surprise me. It has struggled ever since leaving Berlin.;)
July 25, 201016 yr I seriously can't believe this... shame to those who organized it. There was definitely not enough space for more than a million people and I think they should have known this before....horrible safety organisation (don't know how to call it in english) R.I.P.
July 25, 201016 yr Yeah really shocking! I even watched a bit of the Love Parade live on WDR television at my friend's house yesterday before the accident occurred. Unbelievable! I'm really glad my friend decided not to attend the parade this year although he wanted to. R.I.P. to the victims! This is the moment when the tv channel mentioned the stampede first. [ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-3Mr1QECd8A&feature=related]YouTube- Loveparade 2010 - Massenpanik (18 Tote) | HD[/ame] :( They just announced there won't be another Love Parade in the future. That's it!
July 25, 201016 yr I heard about it only this morning because I've been working until late last night. This is a tragedy, I don't know what to say. Many people I talked to about festivals, concerts or events like 1million people around London Eye at New Year's Eve said they'd be afraid to go because of what could happen if there was a panic. I am one of those who always trusted in the organisators... thinking "they wouldn't do this if it wasn't well planned" because I like the atmosphere of many people gathered because of the same cause. I am so shocked about this. My thoughts go out to all people affected by it.
July 25, 201016 yr Author It has tragic shades of Hillsborough. This sort of thing shouldn't be happening in the 21st century. You would have thought enough lessons would have been learned by now.:(
July 26, 201016 yr Author Britons tell of crush horror: I was told to start playing even as revellers were dying at music festival, says DJ Merkel promises 'intense' investigationThe day the Love died: Festival never to be held again out of respectVictims 'had stamp marks on their faces'19 people crushed to death, 342 injured, 1.4million attending festival A British DJ at the German music festival where 19 people were crushed to death said he was told by organisers to start playing despite knowing a stampede had occurred. Mark Knight, 37, said the organisers of the Love Parade were 'quite adamant' his set should begin as people were dying in a mass crush only a few hundred yards away. The tragedy happened at teatime on Saturday as hundreds of thousands of revellers attended the techno festival in the city of Duisburg. Grief: People gather to lay flowers and candles near the accident site in Duisburg, Germany today Victim: The position of the 15th body to be found by rescuers is marked inside the tunnel among debris Those who died were caught in the crush outside a 360ft-long tunnel which was the only entrance and exit at the venue, a disused railway freight station. Another 342 were injured. Survivors said they had warned police that the area was becoming overcrowded. German media said up to 1.4million people attended the festival. Mobile phone footage show thousands clambering to get away from the crush. German Chancellor Angela Merkel has promised an 'intense' investigation into the deaths as witnesses blamed police for closing the entrance tunnel. Meanwhile Love Parade organiser Rainer Schaller said the event would never be held again out of respect for the victims. Horror: A woman is struck by grief at the scene of the Love Parade disaster which killed 19 people 'The Love Parade was always a peaceful event and a happy party,' but would forever be overshadowed by the tragedy, he said. A young woman told the German news that DJs went on to the main stage to play and a lot of people were completely unaware of what was going on. 'It was a weird atmosphere. I would say 50 per cent of the people knew of the magnitude of the situation and the other 50 per cent were going about their business as normal.' Mr Knight, who this year was nominated for a Grammy for his work with the American group Black Eyed Peas, added: 'Those at the event were not given enough information about what was happening. Questions: Candles, flowers and soft toys are left by a sign asking simply Why? in the aftermath of the tragedy Panic: A man manages to climb to safety from the crush as thousands of people gather at the tunnel 'The fact that there was only one entrance to the whole site, it just didn't make any sense.' Another Briton, Alan Donaldson, described the stampede as 'a nightmare' and said of conditions outside the tunnel: 'There were so many people - it was way too small. 'This is the first time I have seen people die and it happened in front of me. What a waste of life. Someone needs to go to jail for this because people died for absolutely nothing.' Salil Bhate, from Romford, Essex, said: 'It wasn't until I saw people being resuscitated that I understood how serious this was. The number of people I saw lying on the floor was ridiculous. They had stamp marks on their faces.' The police had announced at 5.34pm that the festival grounds had reached capacity and were being closed - but later, officials said the grounds had not been full at the time of the tragedy. Destruction: Police examine debris (left) around crushed crowd barriers at the tunnel entrance and (right) Hannelore Kraft the governor of North Rhine-Westphalia places flowers near the accident site in Duisburg Crowded: An aerial view of the Love Parade site - a former goods station - earlier in the day where hundreds of thousands of people gathered Shrine: Tributes to the dead ravers build up near the tunnel as an onlooker contemplates the sign saying Why? It is believed there were simply too many people trying to get too quickly through too small a space. Most of those who died were trampled underfoot or crushed against the wall outside the tunnel as they tried to get clear. One witness said: 'We really would have liked to turn around and go home, but it was impossible. There was no turning back.' Yesterday, as German Chancellor Angela Merkel paid her respects to the dead and injured and a criminal investigation was launched into what happened, the organisers said the event would never take place again out of respect for those who lost their lives. The dead were aged between 16 and 40. Among them were four non-Germans - a Chinese citizen, an Italian, an Australian and one from The Netherlands. Sixteen of the 19 have been identified. Up to 1.4million people had flocked to the city for the event, although not all had necessarily gone to the venue. Wolfgang Rabe, an official in charge of the emergency response, said the site 'can hold 300,000 people and it was at no time full'. The show goes on: Dusk falls on the Love Parade site but organisers and police decided not to stop the event in a bid to prevent further panic Tragic: A composite picture showing sunglasses lost by ravers during the tunnel stampede Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldnews/article-1297606/Britons-tell-crush-horror-Love-Parade-music-festival.html#ixzz0unIfUpJv
July 26, 201016 yr Lack of cons between the exit and the entrance to the tunnel, but what a stupid way to get into a place via a long tunnel :(
July 26, 201016 yr apparently they don't even have a proper insurance policy and announced their inability to pay for the victims... it's the least they should have done for the families.
July 28, 201016 yr Death toll rises to 21... :( http://www.spiegel.de/panorama/gesellschaft/0,1518,708478,00.html Horrific!
July 28, 201016 yr Author I hear the mayor of Duisburg is now in hiding as he's been getting "death threats"!:stunned:
July 28, 201016 yr It's a shame really that nobody assumes responsibility for this tragedy! Instead they always point the finger at someone else. Disgusting! Meanwhile football supporters of MSV Duisburg commemorate the victims... 8 of the 21 victims aged between 20 and 40 years were from Australia, the Netherlands, Italy, Bosnia-Herzegovina, China and Spain.
July 28, 201016 yr Author It's a shame really that nobody assumes responsibility for this tragedy! Instead they always point the finger at someone else. Disgusting! So who do you think should be assuming responsibility?
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