Love Parade Stampede Claims 19 lives

DUISBURG, GERMANY (GaeaTimes.com) — The musical eve of Germany’s Love Parade quickly turned into a tragic scene, when a stampede broke out killing 19 people and injuring over 300 last Saturday.

The panic broke out shortly after 5pm, as the music fans were trying to climb up the fence and walls of an overcrowded tunnel leading to the main stage of the parade and an open-door party. According to some witness, some people fell down while climbing, causing the people below to scramble. Thousands of panicking people rushed towards the narrow ramp at the same time and caused a huge blockage. According to the Police, people were trampled to death at an access ramp connecting the tunnel to the main site.

A full investigation has been launched to find out the reason behind such mishap. Though local police authority have declared that they did open a second access ramp before the stampede to relieve the pressure around the tunnel, doubts have been raised on whether authorities were well prepared for organizing such large-scale event. Matthias Roeingh, one of the founder member of Love Parade complained that the authorities provided only one tunnel exit for a crowd of over 1 million musical fans to pass. This proved to be a fatal management mistake of the evening. Even some of the witnesses were angry at the authorities for their slow reaction when they reported the police about the crowded condition of the tunnel 45 minutes before the stampede.