Shanghai Stampede Turns New Year's Eve Celebration Into Tragedy
Tragedy marred an otherwise festive celebration to welcome the New Year in Shanghai's Huangpi district when an stampede occurred shortly before midnight Wednesday, leaving 35 people dead and 46 injured, 14 of them in serious conditions.
It was the worst disaster to hit the populous Chinese city in recent years.
The tragic incident happened after a massive number of revellers, who gathered at Chen Yi Square in the historic waterfront the Bund, reportedly rushed to pick up dollar-like bills thrown from the balcony of a nearby building. It was not clear, however, whether this triggered the stampede.
Pictures circulated on social media site Weibo.com showed coupons, resembling the color and design of $100 bills, scattered on the ground at the scene of the accident.
President Xi Jinping told the Shanghai government to determine the cause of the deadly stampede as soon as possible. Police are probing the incident.
The Bund, a bustling business community, is popular because of its art deco buildings, bars and restaurants, as well as a scenic view of the Yangtze River. The traditional New Year's Eve revelry in the area attracts large crowds of people. A week earlier, the Shanghai government reportedly cancelled the annual light show in the Bund supposedly on concern over crowd control.
It was reported that four minutes before the Wednesday stampede, Shanghai police told revellers that the Bund area was full and advised them to go elsewhere for their New Year's Eve celebration.
"There were really too many people," wrote a Weibo user. "Squeezed inside, you could not budge, and could only move with the crowd."
Scores of injured, mostly students, were brought by rescuers and first responders to hospitals across the city. Police allowed family members to look for their relatives and friends into the hospitals.
Wu Tao from Anhui province, among the injured treated at First People's Hospital where majority of those hurt were brought, told the local newspaper that the stampede occurred on the slope connecting Chen Yi Square with a special platform built for tourists to view the scenery on the Bund.
