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19 dead at german festival
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/eu_germany_l ... ade_deaths
DUISBURG, Germany – A stampede inside a tunnel crowded with techno music fans left 15 people dead and dozens injured at the famed Love Parade festival in western Germany on Saturday.
Other revelers initially kept partying at the event in Duisburg, near Duesseldorf, unaware of the deadly panic that started when police tried to prevent thousands more from entering the already-jammed parade grounds.
Authorities were still trying to determine exactly what happened at the event, which drew hundreds of thousands of people, but the situation was "very chaotic," police commissioner Juergen Kieskemper said.
Emergency workers had trouble getting to the victims in the wide, 500- to 600-meter-long (500- to 600-yard) tunnel that led to the grounds. The area around the tunnel was a hectic scene, with bodies lying on the ground as rescue workers rushed to aid them. Many of the injured were loaded into Red Cross vans and driven away.
Kieskemper said that just before the stampede occurred at about 5 p.m. (1500 GMT, 11 a.m. EDT), police closed off the area where the parade was being held because it was already overcrowded. They told revelers over loudspeakers to turn around and walk back in the other direction before the panic broke out, he said.
Eyewitness Udo Sandhoefer told n-tv television that even though no one else was being let in people still streamed into the tunnel, causing "a real mass panic."
"At some point the column (of people) got stuck, probably because everything was closed up front, and we saw that the first people were already lying on the ground," he said.
"Others climbed up the walls and tried somehow to get into the grounds from the side, and the people in the crowd that moved up simply ran over those who were lying on the ground."
Another witness, a young man who wasn't named, told n-tv the tunnel became so crowded that people began falling. "It got tighter and tighter from minute to minute and at some point everyone just wanted out," he said. "People were just pushed together until they fell over."
Duisburg city officials decided at a crisis meeting to let the parade go on to prevent more panic and another stampede, said city spokesman Frank Kopatschek.
Police said the fatalities included nine women and six men.
It is the worst accident of its kind since nine people were crushed to death and 43 more were injured at a rock festival in Roskilde, Denmark, in 2000. That fatal accident occurred when a huge crowd pushed forward during a Pearl Jam gig.
Germany's new president expressed his dismay at the deaths.
"Such a catastrophe that brings death, suffering and pain during a peaceful festival of happy young people is terrible," President Christian Wulff said, according to his office.
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.
sorry if already posted-protect each other out there!
DUISBURG, Germany – A stampede inside a tunnel crowded with techno music fans left 15 people dead and dozens injured at the famed Love Parade festival in western Germany on Saturday.
Other revelers initially kept partying at the event in Duisburg, near Duesseldorf, unaware of the deadly panic that started when police tried to prevent thousands more from entering the already-jammed parade grounds.
Authorities were still trying to determine exactly what happened at the event, which drew hundreds of thousands of people, but the situation was "very chaotic," police commissioner Juergen Kieskemper said.
Emergency workers had trouble getting to the victims in the wide, 500- to 600-meter-long (500- to 600-yard) tunnel that led to the grounds. The area around the tunnel was a hectic scene, with bodies lying on the ground as rescue workers rushed to aid them. Many of the injured were loaded into Red Cross vans and driven away.
Kieskemper said that just before the stampede occurred at about 5 p.m. (1500 GMT, 11 a.m. EDT), police closed off the area where the parade was being held because it was already overcrowded. They told revelers over loudspeakers to turn around and walk back in the other direction before the panic broke out, he said.
Eyewitness Udo Sandhoefer told n-tv television that even though no one else was being let in people still streamed into the tunnel, causing "a real mass panic."
"At some point the column (of people) got stuck, probably because everything was closed up front, and we saw that the first people were already lying on the ground," he said.
"Others climbed up the walls and tried somehow to get into the grounds from the side, and the people in the crowd that moved up simply ran over those who were lying on the ground."
Another witness, a young man who wasn't named, told n-tv the tunnel became so crowded that people began falling. "It got tighter and tighter from minute to minute and at some point everyone just wanted out," he said. "People were just pushed together until they fell over."
Duisburg city officials decided at a crisis meeting to let the parade go on to prevent more panic and another stampede, said city spokesman Frank Kopatschek.
Police said the fatalities included nine women and six men.
It is the worst accident of its kind since nine people were crushed to death and 43 more were injured at a rock festival in Roskilde, Denmark, in 2000. That fatal accident occurred when a huge crowd pushed forward during a Pearl Jam gig.
Germany's new president expressed his dismay at the deaths.
"Such a catastrophe that brings death, suffering and pain during a peaceful festival of happy young people is terrible," President Christian Wulff said, according to his office.
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.
sorry if already posted-protect each other out there!
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"..That's One Happy Fuckin Ghost.."
“..That came up on the Pillow Case...This is for the Greek, With Our Apologies.....”
"..That's One Happy Fuckin Ghost.."
“..That came up on the Pillow Case...This is for the Greek, With Our Apologies.....”
If I knew where it was I would take you there.
event promoters need to get their act together for festivals.
*NYC 9/28/96 *NYC 9/29/96 *NJ 9/8/98 (front row "may i play drums with you")
*MSG 9/10/98 (backstage) *MSG 9/11/98 (backstage)
*Jones Beach 8/23/00 *Jones Beach 8/24/00 *Jones Beach 8/25/00
*Mansfield 8/29/00 *Mansfield 8/30/00 *Nassau 4/30/03 *Nissan VA 7/1/03
*Borgata 10/1/05 *Camden 5/27/06 *Camden 5/28/06 *DC 5/30/06
*VA Beach 6/17/08 *DC 6/22/08 *MSG 6/24/08 (backstage) *MSG 6/25/08
*EV DC 8/17/08 *EV Baltimore 6/15/09 *Philly 10/31/09
*Bristow VA 5/13/10 *MSG 5/20/10 *MSG 5/21/10
want to be enlightened"
You close one end of the tunnel and watch the people stream in through the other, I say it's your fault. Panic and stampede came as a result.
How scary that place must've been, I can't even imagine, trapped without way out. Horrible way to die, I feel sorry for them and their families.
My heart and thoughts go out to the victims families.
1998 - Wellington + Auckland, New Zealand
2000 - London, UK x 2
2006 - Melbourne, Australia x 3
2009 - Adelaide, Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane, Auckland
2010 - Newark, MSG x 2
2011 - PJ20 & EV Brisbane 2, Canberra, Melbourne x 2, Adelaide 1, Perth 2
2013 - San Diego, Los Angeles, Oakland, Portland, Vancouver, Seattle
2014 - Auckland, Gold Coast, Melbourne, Sydney & EV - Sydney x 2
2015 - Mexico City
2016 - Miami, Tampa, Jacksonville, Greenville, Hampton, Fenway x 2
2023 - Fort Worth x 2, Austin x 2
Another witness who gave his first name as Fabio said he tried to warn police before the stampede occurred that a catastrophe was building.
“A friend and I got out as hundreds more poured in,” he said. “We tried to tell them to close it down, but they didn’t listen. This was about 45 minutes before people were killed.”
"I saw police on the bridge just standing there and they didn’t do anything.”
You just know it will be hushed.
especially with histories of stampede deaths surrounding such events.
seriously, closing one end of a tunnel and not making some kind of arrangements on the other?
negligent behavior by the organizers, imho
"what a long, strange trip it's been"
The Love Parade took place in Duisburg because Berlin´s and other cities´traffic systems could not handle the run of visitors anymore. Duisburg expected about 1 million visitors, an estimated 1.4 million showed up. Duisburg´s city center cannot handle a parade this big, that´s why the organizers decided to run the parade in a seperated festival area for the first time. The visitors had to enter the area which was located between the highway A59 and the railroads through two tunnels from both sides.
The festival entrance was closed and people were informed through loudspeakers that nobody will be allowed to enter anymore. Obviously this information did not reach the mass of visitors that continued to enter the tunnel from the back. There is no way of making 500.000 people turn around and walk away from the event they came for.
When people were piling up in front of the entrance gate many persons started climbing up walls and fences to escape the crowd. Apparently 16 persons fell to death, 3 more died later in hospital. More than 300 were injured when the crowd panicked and started to stampede back into the tunnel.
People blame the organizers and their security management for the tragedy. News say that when the entrance was closed the festival area was not filled up to its limit. "Experts" say the tunnel was not too tight to handle the waiting crowd. The organizers say some people "broke the rules" by pushing down fences and climbing up staircases.
Now people will continue blaiming each other for what went wrong. Nobody even knows how many visitors the festival area could take and how many visitors there were.
It´s just a terrible thing to happen. The only fact is that the Love Parade will never take place again.
"..That's One Happy Fuckin Ghost.."
“..That came up on the Pillow Case...This is for the Greek, With Our Apologies.....”
"..That's One Happy Fuckin Ghost.."
“..That came up on the Pillow Case...This is for the Greek, With Our Apologies.....”
"..That's One Happy Fuckin Ghost.."
“..That came up on the Pillow Case...This is for the Greek, With Our Apologies.....”