GERMAN LOVE PARADE OVERCROWDING LEADS TO CHAOS AND DEATHS
Almost 20 revellers at Germany’s annual Love Parade were killed on Saturd ay (24Jul10) in Duisburg when overcrowding led to chaos.
Reports suggest 18 music fans died in a crush as organisers attempted t o open an area to accommodate the swelling crowds. Hundreds more were lef t seriously injured and some had to be airlifted to hospitals across Germ any.
Organisers of the event seriously underestimated the size of the crowd - they expected 700,000 people to attend the dance music celebration but twice as many fans showed up.
The death toll has stunned the nation, with German Chancellor Angela Me rkel issuing a statement to offer her condolences to the victims’ familie s.
She said, "My sadness and empathy goes out to them… The young people came to celebrate; instead people were killed and injured." The chaos unfolded in an underpass between the main event site and an a rea organisers opened in an effort to contain the crowds.
Despite the tragedy, the Love Parade went on as planned; police and pro moters feared the cancellation would lead to a riot.
It’s the second such event to end in chaos in a month - the organisers of the Electric Daisy Carnival in Los Angeles came under fire in June (10 ) when more than 100 dance music fans were admitted to hospital after att endees scrambled to gain access to the Memorial Coliseum and Exposition P ark festival, which was headlined by Moby.
Officials claimed many of the injuries occurred as crowds rushed the ga tes and barriers in a bid to force their way into the event.
Movie & Entertainment News provided by World Entertainment News Network (www.wenn.com)
