The following has been gathered from secondary websites, news and presentations.
Some of the terminology contained in the headings and body of these links is misleading. These have been taken from press articles, websites and videos. The use of the word stampede and panic is not what you will find to be the causes of the incidents shown. The information provided is reflecting the articles written and it is being left to you to interoperate what you see and read and come to your own conclusions. Please also
1999
January — Eleven killed in a stampede after a derby between Korm and Al Ittihad in Alexandria, Egypt
Reference required
At least 54 people, most of them teenage girls, were crushed to death in a metro underpass stampede in Minsk, the capital of Belarus.
THE FIRST of many funerals will be held in Belarus today after at least 54 people, most of them teenage girls, were crushed to death in a metro underpass stampede on Sunday.
As the nation grieves, a government commission will begin to investigate the cause of the disaster, which happened after more than 1,000 people – many drunk and high-spirited after a rock concert – rushed into the underpass to escape a sudden spring thunderstorm.
Reports from Minsk, the capital of Belarus, suggested that some of the young women were killed because they were wearing high heels, which caused them to fall down a flight of slippery marble stairs as crowds thrust forward and then ran over them.
A panicked crowd of snowboarding fans stampeded out of a stadium in Innsbruck, crushing five people to death and trampling dozens of others.
Five people have been killed and 25 others injured after a barrier gave way at a snowboarding event in Austria.
The accident happened at the Bergisel stadium in Innsbruck as spectators were leaving the “Air and Style” exhibition – attended by some 40,000 people.
Seoul – South Korean police said on Sunday that they had requested arrest warrants for four people on charges of involuntary manslaughter after Saturday’s fire at a karaoke bar that killed 55 people in the port city of Inchon.
“We have asked for warrants for the arrest of four workmen…,” said a police investigator, noting renovation had been taking place in the building where the fire broke out.
Police and firefighters in the southern Indian state of Kerala have launched a major rescue operation after a landslide caused a temple to cave in.
So far, 52 people are reported dead in the tragedy, and the death toll is expected to rise.
The landslide occurred while some 200,000 male Hindu pilgrims were gathered around the holy site on a hill.
The worshippers were watching for what they believed to be a celestial light at the Sabarimala shrine in Kerala state.
1998
The authorities in Saudi Arabia say they are continuing their efforts to identify the nationalities of the one-hundred-and-eighteen Muslims who died in a stampede on the last day of the annual Haj pilgrimage to Mecca.
The official media in Zimbabwe say four people were killed and about ten others seriously injured in a stampede at independence day celebrations at the national sports stadium in Harare.
A balcony collapsed Thursday onto the crowded floor of a sports stadium during the national wrestling competition in southern Russia, killing 23 people, officials said. Thirty-nine others were injured.
The balcony was holding about 100 spectators when it fell about 16 feet onto the spectators below, said Col. Alik Betrozov of the Emergencies Ministry.
Rescue workers spent hours searching the rubble and believed they had found all the dead and injured.
The accident occurred in the Trudovye Rezervy indoor sports complex in the Nalchik, 850 miles south of Moscow in the Kabardino-Balkaraya republic. A stadium official said 3,000 spectators were in the stadium at the time.
THE WORST fire disaster in Sweden’s recent history claimed the lives of 60 teenagers when a blaze ripped through a disco at an immigrant cultural centre in Gothenburg. After conflicting reports about what caused the fireball which turned the second-floor hall into an inferno, police last night refused to rule out
1997
AN arsonist believed to be linked to a triad turf war firebombed a karaoke bar in Tsim Sha Tsui yesterday, police say, killing 15 people in the second horrific blaze in two months.
The inferno which exploded in a staircase leading to the Top One karaoke bar at 4 am, was apparently designed to trap about 100 people inside, detectives said.
Flames and smoke roared quickly up the stairs and through air-conditioning vents into the maze of tiny rooms, quickly overcoming staff and customers.
TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) _ Five defendants, including the organizer of the 1997 Maccabiah Games, were convicted today in the collapse of a footbridge that killed four Australian athletes and injured scores of others.
The Tel Aviv Magistrate’s Court found the Israelis guilty of causing death and injury by negligence. The five face up to four years in prison.
Micha Bar-Ilan, the engineer who constructed the bridge, held his head in his hands when Judge Edna Beckenstein read the decision of the three-judge panel.
The bridge collapsed on July 14, 1997, during the opening of the Maccabiah Games, a sporting event for Jewish athletes from around the world.
A SETTLING of scores between discotheque owners was probably behind an arson attack on a northern Portuguese nightclub early, yesterday which left 12 people dead, police said.
Fourteen others were injured when three armed and hooded men entered the Men Culpa club in Amarante, 50km (30 miles) east of Porto, around dawn. They doused the place with fuel and set fire to it. The Lusa news agency reported that most of the bodies were found near a closed emergency exit.
Police have questioned one of the injured, suspecting he may be one of the arsonists. The other two fled the scene immediately after lighting the fire. The third man was trapped with the employees and patrons.
The fire erupted in the overcrowded tent city, Mina, where an estimated two million Muslim pilgrims were gathered on for the first day of the Hajj, the ritualistic pilgrimage to Mecca. The fire erupted at 11:45 a.m. (AST), and was caused by exploding canisters of cooking gas, according to witnesses. The fire was fanned by winds of nearly 40 miles per hour (64 km/h) causing the destruction of an estimated 70,000 tents. Officially, 1,290 were injured and 217 killed, though witnesses and local newspapers claimed at least 300 were killed, many trampled in the panic. Later official reports gave a death toll of 343, no official list of fatalities has been published. Opposition sources claimed over 2,000 deaths had occurred, many from trampling. The fire was fought by three hundred fire engines as well as helicopters, and controlled in three hours.
40 killed in Thanjavur temple fireForty people were killed and 86 injured as a fire broke out late on Saturday evening at the Brihadeeswara temple in Thanjavur. The incident occurred hours before the Mahakumbabishekam ceremony. Eyewitnesses said a fire cracker lit near the temple fell on the yagasala and sparked the fire which was fuelled by inflammable materials like ghee and thatched roofs. Instantly, panic-stricken devotees surged towards the only entrance to the temple on the eastern side, causing a stampede which claimed several lives. However, another version said the fire was caused by a spark from the electric generator. The entire yagasala was gutted. According to D V Thaigarajan, dean of the Thanjavur medical college, most of the deaths were caused by the inhalation of carbon monoxide while a few due to burn injuries. The toll may go up as many of the injured are said to be in serious condition. |
The Uphaar Cinema fire was one of the worst fire tragedies in the country. A total of 59 people lost their lives in the fire that broke out during the screening of Hindu film Border on June 13, 1997
Uphaar Cinema fire timeline: The 1997 Uphaar Cinema fire was one of the worst fire tragedies in the country. A total of 59 people lost their lives and over 100 were injured in the fire that broke out at the cinema hall during the screening of Hindu film Border on June 13, 1997. The Uphaar Cinema was located in the Green Park area of south Delhi. The investigation was initially done by the Delhi Police and later transferred to the CBI. Uphaar Cinema owner Sushil Ansal and Gopal Ansal were awarded two years jail term by a local Delhi court. The final verdict in the case came in 2015 when the Supreme Court slapped a fine of Rs 30 each on Ansal brothers and reduced their jail terms to the term already undergone by them.
LAS VEGAS —
It was the night the gambling stopped, a night of glamour and people-watching turned to bedlam.
In the wake of the chaos and acrimony caused by Mike Tyson’s disqualification loss to Evander Holyfield in the hotel’s arena, panic and police overtook the MGM Grand late Saturday night and early Sunday morning
Twenty years ago, Toten Hosen had one of the biggest appearances of their careers in Düsseldorf’s Rheinstadion in front of 65,000 fans. What was supposed to be the most beautiful day in the band’s history ended in disaster. Our author was there and remembers the most memorable concert of his life.
Anyone who grows up in Düsseldorf grows up with the Toten Hosen . The band is inextricably linked to their hometown – like Die Ärzte with Berlin, the Fantastischen Vier with Stuttgart, the Beginner and Fettes Brot with Hamburg. I grew up in Düsseldorf with my 90s trousers. At that time the band was not as colorful and wild as it was in its early days, but the new world pain in the lyrics spoke to me as a teenager.
BRUSSELS, Belgium (AP) _ A pilot who nose-dived at an air show appeared to regain control of the plane at the last instant _ but not soon enough to avoid skidding in a “carpet of flame″ that showered spectators with deadly debris.
The Jordanian pilot and seven spectators, including a French girl and her father, were killed Saturday when the light aircraft crashed amid blustery wind near public bleachers outside the coastal resort of Ostend.
The rest of the victims were Belgium men. An additional person, a Red Cross volunteer, died from injuries early Sunday. About 40 people were injured, 10 of them critically.
Florentine where five teenagers died The guilt was in the organizers of the event
On August 5, 1997, five adolescents died in a concert by Servando and Florentino at the Home Fair in Lima, Peru. A firefighter climbed onto the stage to interrupt the show where several spectators had collapsed.
Part of a sports stadium in eastern Paraguay collapsed while the ruling party held a political rally, killing at least 33 people and injuring more than 100, authorities said Friday.
A metallic section of Third of February Stadium caved in Thursday night in Ciudad del Este, 180 miles east of Asuncion, the capital. At least 17 of the injured were in serious condition, police said.It wasn’t immediately clear what caused the collapse, but party members said powerful winds – possibly a tornado – damaged the structure.
Police spokesman Pablo Augusto Marin said one policeman was among the dead and 13 officers were among those injured in the collapse. The mayor of Cuidad del Este, Juan Carlos Barreto, said three children were among those killed.
Marin said authorities feared more victims would be found once the stadium roof was lifted off the ground.
December 3 [14:00 EDT] — A 31-year-old Rolling Stones fan reportedly fell to his death Tuesday night at the band’s concert at the Pontiac Silverdome outside of Detroit.
The Associated Press reports that Eric Zylema fell 23 feet to his death when he slipped from a railing that he had been dancing on. Police told the AP that Zylema fell from the second level of the stadium to the concrete floor of the first level, and was pronounced dead half an hour later.
The police went on to say that an autopsy was planned for Tuesday to determine if drugs or alcohol may have been a factor in the fan’s death.
1996
An eatery that’s “open 25 hours” now occupies the site of the worst nightclub fire in the country’s history. On March 18, 1996, 162 people—mostly teenagers and young adults celebrating their graduation—perished when a blaze engulfed the Ozone Disco along Timog Avenue in Quezon City. Almost 100 others were injured, many of them suffering second and third-degree burns all over their body.
An eatery that’s “open 25 hours” now occupies the site of the worst nightclub fire in the country’s history. On March 18, 1996, 162 people—mostly teenagers and young adults celebrating their graduation—perished when a blaze engulfed the Ozone Disco along Timog Avenue in Quezon City. Almost 100 others were injured, many of them suffering second and third-degree burns all over their body.
Sherilyn Bruan is one of the survivors. She now works at a broadcast TV station not far from the old Ozone Disco. She often drives past the site to and from work, but says she hardly feels the trauma of the horrific tragedy of that night. “No, wala namang effect,” she says. “Hindi ako nanginging every time napapadaan ako. (I don’t shudder every time I pass it). It’s just a place now.”
Bruan was 18 years old and a Mass Communications sophomore at the San Sebastian College in 1996. Dad was a soldier and Mom was an overseas Filipino worker. They lived in San Fernando, Pampanga, but the young Sherilyn insisted on relocating to Manila after high school. She describes herself as a bit of a rebel back in the day.
May 17, 1996 — Smashing Pumpkins, a band that has vocally opposed moshing and other forms of ritual rock-concert mayhem for more than a year now, were onstage in Dublin, Ireland, last Saturday night when a teenage fan was crushed and fatally injured in exactly that sort of melee.
The date was a festival-seating affair, no chairs on the main floor. Smashing Pumpkins were in mid-set when moshers surged toward the stage and began trampling one another, despite the presence of 110 security guards. Seventeen-year-old Bernadette O’Brien was trapped in the pile-up in front of the stage, and was so seriously crushed that she suffered a heart attack. Singer Billy Corgan warned the crowd that people were getting hurt, while at one point, bassist Darcy Wretsky announced: “There’s a girl dying backstage, do you care?” Bernadette O’Brien was taken to a hospital, where on Sunday she was taken off life-support, and she died.
LUSAKA, Zambia (AP) _ At least 15 soccer fans were crushed to death and 52 others injured in a stampede that followed Zambia’s World Cup qualifying soccer victory over Sudan, police and witnesses said.
At least six fans died on the spot Sunday as several thousand supporters rushed from Lusaka’s Independence Stadium to catch a glimpse of their team, Police Inspector General Francis Ndlovu said.
Officials at Lusaka hospital reported 15 dead and 52 injured, with more casualties feared. It was not clear if those numbers included the earlier six fans.
Libya has launched an investigation into a brawl among fans, players and police at a hotly contested soccer match that left eight people dead and 39 injured.
The casualty figures from the rioting in the capital, Tripoli, were released late Sunday on state-run Libyan television.The broadcast also carried footage of the fighting during Friday’s game between rival Al-Ittihad and Al-Ahli teams, the latter sponsored by Al-Saadi Gadhafi, a son of Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi.
The government suspended both teams, and Libya’s official JANA news agency said Justice Minister Mohammed Mahmoud Hijazi announced an investigation into the incident.
The Catholic Bishops´ Conference of India (CBCI) joined national leaders in offering condolences to the friends and relatives of 59 Hindu pilgrims killed in stampedes in two Indian towns July 15.Thirty-seven people were reportedly killed when devotees crammed the Mahakaleshwar temple in Ujjain, a Hindu holy town in the central state of Madhya Pradesh, while marking a festival that last took place 27 years ago.Another stampede killed 21 people at Haridwar, a sacred city some 200 kilometers north of New Delhi in Uttar Pradesh state.
TEMBISA, South Africa (AP) _ Morning rush hour became a deadly stampede Wednesday after security guards used electric prods to control crowds at a railroad station. At least 15 commuters were crushed to death.
What President Nelson Mandela called “a national tragedy″ sparked outrage in Tembisa, a black township northeast of Johannesburg. After the stampede, a mob torched a station ticket office and stoned riot police arriving to restore order.
About 60 policemen, supported by an armored vehicle, hurled tear gas and fired shots into the air. The angry crowd, which grew at one point to about 1,000 people, dispersed only hours after the stampede.
Guatemalan officials said today that at least 84 people had been killed and 147 injured in a melee before a World Cup qualifying match on Wednesday, as stampeding soccer fans crushed and smothered one another in one of the worst sports tragedies in years.
1995
TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP) _ Bodies lie piled under white covers. Their relatives, tear-streaked faces rigid with anguish, light sticks of incense to speed the journey to the hereafter.
The images that have dominated Taiwan since a fire killed 64 people in a nightclub Wednesday are a reminder of the island’s lax safety standards.
The fire, Taiwan’s deadliest, has provoked a welter of public recriminations that highlight how Taiwanese have come to expect government accountability since the island shifted toward democracy in 1987.
Media and opposition politicians, displaying a freedom unthinkable when the ruling Nationalists still governed through martial law, are demanding that officials shoulder responsibility for the disaster and resign.
– People turn to religion in times of crisis and Sierra Leoneans are no exception.
A cruel four-year civil war has forced 250,000 people to flee the country, displaced 600,000 more, brought the economy to its knees and introduced starvation to the countryside — more than enough reasons to look to spiritual salvation.
Orthodox Christian churches and Islamic leaders in this multi- confessional society of 4.5 million have watched their congregations fall with the rise of new charismatic faiths, offering hope, fellowship and solace.
The fastest growing is the ‘Jesus is the Lord’ ministry, founded and led by a 48-year-old widow, Sister Dora Dumbuya. The clout she now wields is such that military leader Capt. Valentine Strasser turned up in person to open the church’s ‘Crusade’ on October 10 which attracted 30,000 worshipers.
The meeting, at which “miracle” cures were apparently performed, ended in disaster a few days later when a stampede killed eight people and left 13 seriously injured.
What caused the tragedy is confusing — some reports claim a “serpent” appeared, panicking the crowd. But the event has however sparked controversy over the new evangelism.
BEIJING —
Fire swept through a northwest China karaoke club and theater that had ignored orders to shut down last week, killing 51 people and injuring an undetermined number of others, an official said Tuesday.
The fire broke out early Monday at the club in Urumqi, capital of the Xinjiang region, an official at the regional foreign affairs office said.
A report Tuesday in the Legal Daily newspaper quoted police and fire officials as saying that club exits were blocked or too narrow, preventing the victims from escaping.
São Paulo Juniors v Palmeiras – Palmeiras beat São Paulo, on a golden goal. Fans armed with sticks, stones and pieces of iron. death of Marcio Gasparim da Silva, 16 y
December 23, 1995 was supposed to be a special day for Vinod and Renu Bansal. Their children — two daughters, 9 and 7, and a five-year-old son — were all participating in dance performances at their school’s annual day function.
So, on the chilly winter morning, the five set off for Rajiv Marriage Palace, Dabwali, Haryana, the venue of the function. As the canopy was packed beyond capacity at 1,500 people, the DAV school management locked the main gates of the compound.
Himanshu, the Bansals’ son, was on stage performing, even as Renu and their younger daughter Nancy were cheering him from near the podium. The elder daughter was in the dressing room some distance away, getting ready for her performance. Suddenly, a fire broke out, and people were running helter-skelter with melted synthetic material of the tent falling on them. In a matter of seven minutes, the small school function turned into the biggest fire tragedy in the country — killing 442 people, including 258 children, and injuring over 150 others.
1994
JIDDA, Saudi Arabia —
A total of 270 pilgrims died in a stampede during this week’s symbolic “stoning the devil” ritual of the annual Muslim pilgrimage to Mecca, the government said Friday.
Saudi officials said the stampede, which occurred at about 2pm local time, was caused by conditions “beyond human endurance”, with a record 2.5 million pilgrims that year. Some victims were reported to have fallen from a pedestrian overpass (the Jamaraat Bridge) as a wave of pilgrims crowded those already on the overpass. After Saudi police sealed off the overpass, the crowds panicked and moved in two directions, causing more people to fall. Ambulances could not reach the scene of the incident fast enough, which likely contributed to the death toll.
A Saudi statement on the incident blamed pilgrims who were rushing to throw their stones as causing the stampede. The Saudis reported that 829 people died during the hajj, including 270 killed in the stampede, 536 who died from natural causes (which included sun stroke), and 23 from isolated incidents. A Saudi official also noted that people get trampled every year.
One Saudi report stated that the victims included 182 Turks, and mostly Lebanese among the remainder. Later reports suggested that most victims were Indonesian.
Link to en.wikipedia.org article whick includes google links to news papers
SAN JOSE, Costa Rica (AP) _ One person was killed and 22 others were injured Thursday when thousands of fans stormed a stadium before a concert by the rock group Aerosmith.
Witnesses said concert-goers, standing in a tropical rainstorm, were frustrated by the slow, careful police searches of everyone waiting to enter National Stadium.
″The slow entry got people upset, and they started to press to try to get in faster,″ said Rosibel Mena, a reporter for the newspaper Prensa Libre. ″The people in back just passed over (on) top of the people in front.″
BEIJING, May 8 (Reuters) – A total of 288 children were killed in a 1994 theatre fire in northwest China mainly because they were told to remain seated to allow officials to leave after the blaze broke out, according to an expose by a journalist.
A total of 323 people were killed in the fire in the oil town of Karamay in the predominantly Muslim region of Xinjiang on Dec. 8, 1994. The high death toll was then blamed on locked exits and the failure of officials to check safety facilities beforehand, and to organise effective evacuation.
WARSAW, Nov. 25 — Polish police said Friday arson is the suspected cause of a fire at a rock concert in the Baltic seaport of Gdansk that killed three persons and hospitalized more than 200 others with burns. Police were seeking a man between 17 and 19 who was described by witnesses as having thrown a Molotov cocktail, and Polish television broadcast a composite sketch of the suspect.
The blaze broke out Thursday night during a performance before 1,500 fans of a Polish rock group called ‘Golden Life’ at the Gdansk shipyard, and quickly spread through the concert hall. Two persons died in the blaze and a third died during the day of injuries. Four were listed in critical condition, and another 29 were listed as serious at local hospitals. ‘The wooden benches in the audience and the wooden roof structure caught fire almost at the same time,’ the news agency PAP said. The roof subsequently collapsed into the arena. Many of the fans panicked at the outbreak of the blaze and rushed to the exit doors, some of which were padlocked. A total of 24 firefighting units took part in the rescue action, which was completed at midnight. Gdansk authorities have declared Sunday a day of mourning for the victims.
HUMAN ERROR could have caused the collapse of a 1,200-seat stand in which than 90 people were injured at a Pink Floyd concert on Wednesday night at Earls Court in London, safety inspectors said yesterday.
Three people, more seriously injured, were still in hospital yesterday. Insurance assessors and officials from Kensington and Chelsea council and the Health and Safety Executive were sifting the wreckage trying to find the reason for the collapse.
Dave Gilmour, leader of Pink Floyd, said before the group started their concert last night: ‘The band is very angry and upset. It is extremely fortunate that no one was killed. We want to find out from the management of Earls Court what happened.’
BRAZZAVILLE, Congo A tropical storm broke out as thousands of people were leaving a church service, triggering a panicked stampede for shelter that killed 143 people, the official news agency said Saturday.
More than 50 children were among the people who either were trampled to death or suffocated in the surging crowd during the Friday evening service at the Saint Pierre Claver Roman Catholic Church in Brazzaville’s Bacongo neighborhood, state radio reported.
More than 40 people died and 44 were injured in a stampede of people at a crowded train station in southern China, Hong Kong news reports said Friday.
The stampede occurred Tuesday in the city of Hengyang in Hunan province, newspapers said.Quoting reports received by Hong Kong residents from relatives in Hunan, the South China Morning Post said the victims were in a large crowd of people trying to return to the southern city of Canton after spending the Chinese New Year holidays in villages.
1993
The Kheyvis fire was a fire in the Kheyvis nightclub in Olivos, Buenos Aires, Argentina. On 20 December 1993, a fire in the club caused the deaths of 17 teenagers in a graduation party for the La Salle College. It is believed to have been caused by the burning of furniture as a prank, although no one was charged with starting it.
The Kheyvis fire led to tougher regulations, including mandatory emergency exits and extensive security inspections of existing nightclubs. Until the República Cromagnon fire on 30 December 2004 in Buenos Aires, the Kheyvis fire was the worst nightclub tragedy in Argentine history.
Hong Kong awoke to tragedy on January 1, 1993: “20 Dead In Crush Of New Year Revellers”, ran the front-page headline of the South China Morning Post.
“Up to 20 people were reported to have been killed and more than 100 injured in a stampede involving some of the 20,000 in Lan Kwai Fong in Central for New Year celebrations last night,” the story continued. “The crush occurred when people surged out into the streets from the district’s restaurants and bars as the countdown to midnight was being broadcast live on TVB.
1992
No matches were played in Ligue 1 last Saturday. Instead the league commemorated the 20th anniversary of the Furiani stadium disaster which took the lives of 18 fans and injured hundreds more.
The lead up to the disaster starts on the 22nd of April 1992. SC Bastia, from the football-mad town of Bastia on the island Corsica, has just beaten Nancy on penalties and has progressed to the semi-finals of the Coupe de France. In this semi-final it will meet Olympique de Marseille, the absolute top team in France of those years, hosting such players as Jean-Pierre Papin, Chris Waddle, Abedi Pelé, and Didier Deschamps.
Over a dozen instances of pilgrims being trampled to death have been recorded in independent India, and the common thread running through every such tragedy is the utter failure of the authorities and the public alike to learn any lesson from previous disasters. At the Godavari Maha Pushkaram at Rajahmundry in Andhra Pradesh on July 14, >every ingredient needed for a tragedy was present — a rarely occurring religious festival attended by millions of people, the edge of a crowded bathing ghat, and the presence of VIPs causing waiting devotees to lose their patience. A host of factors appeared to have contributed to the >stampede that led to 28 deaths, not least among them being the fact that huge crowds were allowed to gather at the Pushkar ghat even as Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu and his family members were taking a holy dip at the auspicious time.
RIO DE JANEIRO — At least 60 people were injured Sunday when part of a grandstand collapsed minutes before the start of the final game of the Brazilian soccer championship, hospital officials said.
None of the 60 people was seriously hurt, although some received fractures as a result of the collapse, a hospital spokesman said. Six children were among those injured.
On February 18, 1992, the then chief minister of Tamil Nadu, Jayalalitha and her friend Sasikala had a holy dip in the tank at around 12:15 p.m. The proceeds were initiated by the Shankaracharya of Kanchi Mutt, Jayendra Saraswati. Tens of thousands of pilgrims thronged the event and in the heat of the situation, 47 people were crushed to death when a building collapsed. This resulted in a stampede that resulted in another 50 getting injured. At least 15 people were reported killed in the rubble, and others were apparently crushed in fleeing crowd as reported by the Press Trust of India. Of the killed, 30 were reported to be women, three were children and the rest were men. Some of the newspapers reported the stampede took place soon after the chief minister reached the tank. This is attributed by the fact that the stampede occurred 200 metres away from the special bathing ghat arranged for the chief minister. The whole accident occurred within a span of 5 minutes with pilgrims rushing up for a holy dip in auspicious time, and also for viewing the chief minister as reported by The Hindu on February 19. Most newspapers also reported that the western and southern sides were cordoned off for security purposes and people could enter and exit only through the northern and eastern sides. Walter Devaram, the inspector-general of police is quoted as saying “a concrete superstructure of a building on the northern bank of the bank collapsed under the weight of those standing on it to watch the festival”. The final official number of victims stood at 50 with another 74 getting injured.
1991
The Oppenheimer Stadium disaster, or Orkney Disaster, at the Oppenheimer Stadium in the city of Orkney (200 kilometres (120 mi) from Johannesburg) in South Africa’s North West province was the second-worst sporting incident in South African history, with 42 deaths.
On 13 January 1991, there was a preseason “friendly” association football match between Kaizer Chiefs and Orlando Pirates. The stadium had a capacity of 23,000, but about 30,000 fans were admitted and were not separated according to the team they supported. The referee upheld a goal scored by the Chiefs, and supporters of the Pirates objected. Pirates fans threw cans and fruit at Chiefs fans, and allegedly some knife-wielding Pirates fans attacked Chiefs fans. In the stampede, panicking fans trying to escape the brawls were trampled or crushed to death against riot-control fences.
It’s not every day that the monster Australian heavy-metal rock hand AC/DC plays Salt Lake City. So the one-show-only Jan. 18 concert at the downtown Salt Palace seemed a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to some young Utah fans. They stood in line overnight to buy the $18 tickets, determined to be there if it was the last thing they ever did. Tragically, for three teenagers, it was.
MEXICO CITY — More than 40 people
were reportedly killed and as many as 65
others injured Ash Wednesday when an
estimated 4,000 worshipers stampeded at a
popular shrine about 75 miles south of
Mexico City.
Pilgrims from throughout central and
southern Mexico had made the annual
Lenten pilgrimage to me shrine of Our
Lord of Chalma. Many believe the blackwooden crucifix icon adorning the sanctuary of the local church is miraculous.
(Created through Google Translate)
From September 21 to September 30, 1991, Shanxi Provincial People’s Government held the “Two Weeks in a Week” event in Taiyuan, the capital city of Shanxi Province, namely the Week of Friendship and Exchange of Shanxi Province, the International Drum Festival in Shanxi Province, and the Second Folk Arts Festival in Shanxi Province, China. One of the main activities of “Two Weeks a Week” is the large-scale light show of “Coal Sea Light” held in Yingze Park, which will be held from September 15 to October 31. This is also the first time that “Light of Coal Sea” was exhibited in Shanxi Province.
Lantern Exhibition has been a warm welcome, ticketing team queues in the main street Yingze. Not only Taiyuan local citizens enthusiastically watched the exhibition, and even farmers in the surrounding areas of Taiyuan came over to see the light show with their tractors. According to statistics, at the beginning of the Lantern Festival, the daily sales of tickets for the night more than 1 million, September 22 to 4 million copies, on the 23rd to 5.8 million copies, up to 24 as many as more than 64,000 copies. During this period also issued 3.09 million copies of tickets. All tickets sold without a deadline.
The evening of September 24, the number of admission lanterns as many as 50,000 people. Due to the large number of watchers, lights show site did not set sightseeing signs, flow of people in chaos. Especially in connecting the main channel between east and west of Yingze Lake Qikongqiao, is a large gradient arch bridge at the end of both ends of the east and west stand long, wide and high of 0.57 meters square stop stone pier; bridge two lighting Lights disrepair, dim light; the crowd on the bridge in the opposite direction, crowded. At around 20:30, some people were pushed down in the east of Qikongqiao and the crowd was
According to ex post facto statistics, 105 people were dumped to death and 108 were crushed. Of the deaths, 27 were men and 78 were women; 23 were under 16, 65 were 17 to 59, and 17 were over 60. Among the injured, 5 were seriously injured, 18 were slightly injured and 85 were injured in general.
Afterwards, the investigation team gave a survey report that the accident occurred in three ways. One is that leading cadres are “seriously bureaucratic, irresponsible and neglecting security.” This is the main reason for the accident. The other is that the police force is not in place and 450 people are on duty in the scheme prepared in advance. However, the actual attendance of all police forces is only 311 people, nearly one-third of the police force did not arrive; Third, there is a significant security risk Lantern Exhibition, Garden does not limit the number of
When he was
Stunned elected leaders and police, medical and City University officials began sweeping inquiries yesterday to try to explain a nightmarish stampede that left eight young people trampled or crushed to death and 29 others injured at the doorway of a City College gymnasium Saturday night at a charity basketball game featuring celebrity rap stars.
1990
ZARAGOZA, Spain (AP) _ A fire at a discotheque Sunday sent poisonous smoke pouring into a lounge where people sat listening to music, and at least 43 people were overcome by the fumes and died, officials said.
The fumes were so strong some victims had no chance to attempt an escape and died in their seats, police said. The victims included five members of a band that was playing in the lounge and the parents and wife of one of the dead musicians.
A U.S. military base is about 10 miles west of Zaragoza, but the discotheque was not frequented by U.S. servicemen, and authorities said all the victims were local residents.
The Happy Land fire was an arson fire that killed 87 people trapped in an unlicensed social club named “Happy Land”, at 1959 Southern
About 1,400 Muslim pilgrims suffocated or were trampled to death in a pedestrian tunnel leading to the sacred city of Mecca
The incident occurred inside a 550 meter (1800 foot) long and 10 meter (35 foot) wide pedestrian tunnel (Al-Ma’aisim tunnel) leading out from Mecca towards Mina and the Plains of Arafat. The tunnel had been worked on as part of a $15 billion project around Mecca’s holy sites started two years earlier by the Saudi government.
While pilgrims were traveling to perform the Stoning of the Devil ritual at 10am that morning, the disaster started when a pedestrian bridge railing was bent, causing seven people to fall off a bridge and onto people exiting the tunnel. The tunnel’s capacity of 1,000 soon filled with up to 5,000 people. With outside temperatures of 44 °C / 112 °F, a failure of the tunnel’s ventilation system was also blamed for many of the deaths. Some witnesses claimed they believed a demonstration was occurring, others reported that the power to the tunnel was cut. Saudi officials concluded that crowd hysteria occurring from the falling pilgrims was the cause.
Many who died were of Malaysian, Indonesian and Pakistani origin. According to one Malaysian account, 80 percent of the deaths occurred outside the tunnel, and 20 percent (about 285) were inside.
1989
On 15 April 1989, 96 victims lost their lives and 766 supporters were injured, in what is commonly know as The Hillsborough disaster. A fatal crowd crush occurred during the FA Cup semi-final; Liverpool v Nottingham Forest. The match was held at Hillsborough Stadium in the city of Sheffield, England. The incident occurred in the Leppings Lane stand; confined to two standing-only central pens, allocated to Liverpool supporters.
1988
Two women were killed and 15 others, including 11 women and four men, were injured when a two-ton chandelier fell on dancers at a disco in Tokyo’s Roppongi Tuesday night, the Tokyo Metropolitan Fire Board reported.
The women were identified as Akemi Mizobe, 21, and Keiko Takagi, 26.
When the rectangular-shaped chandelier fell around 9:40 p.m., about 200 guests at the Roppongi disco Turia were sent into mass pandemonium, an employee there said, adding that some of the victims were pinned under the light, while others caught fragments of flying glass.
The chandelier, measuring three meters by two meters by one meter thick, fell about 10 meters, from the second floor ceiling to a basement where about 100 guests were dancing.
The disco, located near the Defense Agency, is known for its selectiveness, with a video camera that monitors guests to determine fashionability.
The Kathmandu Stadium Disaster occurred on 12 March 1988 in Kathmandu, Nepal during an association football match between Janakpur Cigarette Factory Ltd and Liberation Army of Bangladesh for the 1988 Tribhuvan Challenge Shield
Donington
Presentation Paper
By
Mick Upton
Delivered to
The Home Office Emergency Planning College
EASINGWOLD SEMINAR
Mass Crowd Events
8th December 1995
Published by Buckinghamshire New University in:
Case Studies in Crowd Safety Management
By Kemp, Hill, Upton & Hamilton
Entertainment Technology Press Safety Series 2007
Abstract
On the 28.8.1988. two young men died and a third was seriously injured in a fatal crowd related incident during an open air rock concert billed as the `Monsters of Rock` at the Donington Park motor race circuit North West Leicestershire. This paper is a personal account of my involvement in what is now commonly referred to as the Donington Disaster.
SUMMARY: In August 1988 an aircraft of the Italian aerobatic display team fell into the spectator enclosure at the
Ramstein Airshow, causing over 500 casualties. The survivors were triaged, treated and evacuated from Ramstein within
96 minutes. The speed and efficiency of this evacuation was a result of prior planning, thorough training, medical
reinforcement, co-operation with other agencies and the availability of an abundance of vehicles for both air and road
evacuation. Not surprisingly, though, problems did occur, especially with communications, casualty identification and
documentation.
1987
On 18 November 1987, at approximately 19:30, a fire started at King’s Cross St Pancras tube station, a major interchange on the London Underground. As well as the mainline railway stations above ground and subsurface platforms for the Metropolitan, Circle and Hammersmith & City lines, there were platforms deeper underground for the Northern, Piccadilly, and Victoria lines. The fire started under a wooden escalator serving the Piccadilly line and, at 19:45, erupted in a flashover into the underground ticket hall, killing 31 people and injuring 100.
NASHVILLE, Tenn. — A post-concert stampede that killed two teenagers and injured 27 others could have been avoided if more exits had been opened at the Municipal Auditorium, officials said.
Police said Sunday the teenage girls were crushed to death when 1,000 people tried to push into a benefit party after a Saturday night rap music concert.
1986
There was a large explosion. The force ripped open the floor of the club sending a number of guests tumbling into the cellar below. The bomb, placed under a table near the DJ booth, killed Nermin Hannay, a Turkish woman, and Kenneth T. Ford, a US army sergeant, instantly. Another US soldier James E. Goins died two months later from his injuries.
The blast injured a further 230 people including more than 50 American servicemen who regularly attended the club, popular as it was with US soldiers deployed in the West German capital during the Cold War.
HARDWAR, India —
A stampede by thousands of frenzied Hindus rushing to bathe in the sacred Ganges River killed at least 47 pilgrims today, news agency and radio reports said.
The stampede occurred before dawn as millions thronged the city of Hardwar on the banks of the Ganges on the climax of the Khumbh Mela, a religious festival held once every 12 years.
The United News of India said 32 of the dead were women and two were children. In addition to the 47 killed, 39 people were hurt.
NEW DELHI, India —
Rope barriers set up to contain thousands of Hindu pilgrims during a religious procession in northern India gave way, resulting in a stampede in which at least 32 people were killed and 30 injured, news reports said today.
They said the accident occurred late Sunday during the “Kartik Parikrama” festival in the town of Ayodhya, 350 miles southeast of New Delhi.
One man died and at least three suffered serious injuries at weekend rock concerts in Long Beach headlined by heavy metal performer Ozzy Osbourne, authorities said Sunday.
The dead man was identified as John Loftus, 22, of Fullerton, by the coroner’s office.
Long Beach Police Lt. Bart Day said Loftus “fell over backwards because he was probably overdosing, hit his head, broke his neck and died.”
1985
The Bradford City stadium fire was the worst fire disaster in the history of English football. It occurred during a league match in front of record numbers of spectators, on Saturday, 11 May 1985, killing 56 and injuring at least 265.
The Heysel Stadium disaster occurred on 29 May 1985 when escaping fans were pressed against a wall in the Heysel Stadium in Brussels, Belgium,
1983
TURIN, Italy — A blaze engulfed a crowded movie theater Sunday killing at least 64 people, many of them teenagers trampled to death in a panic-stricken race to the exits, officials said.
Twenty victims were found dead of smoke inhalation, huddled in a balcony closet and bathroom which they apparently thought were stairwells, officials said. There were no fire exits on the second level, fire officials said.
Flames swept through a two-story disco club filled with people early today in the southeastern city of Taegu, killing 24 and injuring about 70, the police reported.
The Korean Broadcasting Corporation quoted a club employee as saying that about 400 people were in the club at about 2 A.M. when fire broke out in the ceiling of the second floor.
MADRID —
The four owners of a central Madrid disco, where 81 people burned or suffocated to death in 1983, and two other people were found guilty of negligence on Friday and sentenced to jail terms of up to two years.
A Madrid court also said the state should pay a total of $14 million in compensation to the victims’ families. Hundreds of teen-agers forced their way through blocked fire doors in the basement rock club Alcala 20 when the blaze took hold in the early hours of a Saturday morning, but others were trapped inside.
1982
The Luzhniki disaster was a deadly human crush that took place at the Grand Sports Arena of the Central Lenin Stadium
CALI, Colombia — Thousands of soccer fans stampeded for stadium exits to escape a rain of debris and urine from the upper deck and 22 people were killed in the crush with another 100 injured, police said today.
At the end of a match Wednesday night at the Pascual Guerrero stadium, a group of rowdy young fans in the upper level of the stadium began throwing trash and spraying urine over thousands of people heading for the exits, police said.
1981
For many Bengalureans, the death of over 100 people in a fire at a Kerala temple on Sunday, brought back dark memories.
As they watched the scenes of people burnt alive during the firework show at Puttinagal temple in Paravur in Kollam on their television screens, Bengalureans recalled the infamous Venus Circus fire tragedy which had claimed 92 lives and left around 300 injured in the city on February 8, 1981.
Professor Norman Fenton was giving evidence at the new inquests into the later disaster which claimed 96 Liverpool fans’ lives.
In 1981 Prof Fenton was secretary of the Sheffield Spurs Supporters Society.
He said the society complained about being allocated the smaller Leppings Lane end of the the ground.
Wolverhampton Wanderers’ fans were given the larger Spion Kop end for the semi-final, just as Nottingham Forest fans were in 1989.
NEW DELHI, India — A stampede of more than 400 screaming school children — touched off when young men began sexually molesting women tourists during a blackout — killed 45 people Friday in a human pileup on the winding steps of an ancient tower.
Police said 23 of the dead where children.
On this day, 31 years ago, the Manila Film Center tragedy occurred. The scaffolding on the sixth floor of the nine-level building collapsed and sent workers – many of them – falling into quick-drying cement.
Scarce news stories about the mishap in the days hence reported that “there were 40 to 45 workers at the site of the collapsed floor.” Other sources placed the numberof casualties, who were allegedly “entombed alive,” at as high as 169.
Fast-forward to today and the very site is an entertainment hall of glitz and glamour.
A fast-moving fire broke out at the back door of a windowless discotheque yesterday, sending 200 screaming, panicked people crowding through the only other exit. Five people died.
Arson was suspected, officials said. A five-gallon gas can was found behind the building.
Firefighters arrived to find a huge crowd outside the Odyssey Lounge, officials said. Those who escaped tried to wrestle fire hoses from firefighters in hopes of rescuing trapped friends, hampering efforts to extinguish the blaze, Bayou Blue Fire Chief Eugene Cadiere said.
Screams could be heard inside the burning building, a one-story structure with aluminum siding and two doors. The building, which also housed a pool hall, was a popular nightspot in the oil-rig country about 45 miles southwest of New Orleans.
A fresh inquest is to be held into the deaths of 48 people in the Stardust nightclub fire in Dublin.
The Republic’s Attorney General confirmed on Wednesday that the application for a new inquest had been successful.
The application was made by victims’ families in April after years of campaigning over the fire in Artane.
Three of those who died in the St Valentine’s Day blaze in 1981 were from Northern Ireland.
They were Susan Morgan from Londonderry and James Millar and Robert Hillock from Twinbrook, in west Belfast.
1980
CHIBOUGAMAU, Que. — Florent Cantin, the 21-year-old unemployed laborer who has pleaded guilty in connection with last year’s Chapais tragedy, says he was ‘just playing with fire’ when he started the blaze that killed 48 people.
‘I was just doing the same as anyone else, playing with fire,’ Cantin said in court Tuesday. ‘I did it just as someone else might light a napkin.’
The fire, which affected almost every family in the isolated mining town of 3,700, began in dried pine bough holiday decorations and swept through the wooden Opemiska Club during a 1980 New Year’s Eve party.
On January 20, 1980, bleachers at a bullring in Sincelejo, Colombia, collapse, resulting in the deaths of 222 people.
The collapse at Sincelejo, the deadliest tragedy at a sporting event in Colombia’s history, was the result of overcrowding and poor construction. In addition to the 222 spectators killed, hundreds more were injured. Despite the fact that bullrings were more closely regulated and inspected in the aftermath of Sincelejo, a temporary bleachers in Honda, 60 miles southeast of Bogota, collapsed in February 1989. In that incident, seven people died and 300 more were injured.
1979
On December 3, 1979, eleven teenagers and young adults were killed by compressive asphyxia and 26 other persons were injured in a rush for seating at the opening of a sold-out rock concert
ROSARIO, Argentina, Dec. 6 (UPI) —Fire swept through a nightclub here shortly before dawn today and killed 16 young people who sought refuge in restrooms from smoke and fire and suffocated. At least 10 people were hurt.
Most of the dead were trapped because the club’s windows were shuttered, police sources said.
The fire broke out at 5:20 A.M. in the Rilke II club in central Rosario, Argentina’s second largest city.
The police said a dozen people fled through the only door before the smoke and flames cut off that path, trapping the others in the club.
The cause of the fire was not immediately determined.
1978
Footage from The Big Match of Orients scoreless draw against Chelsea in the 1978 FA Cup 5th Round. O’s went on to beat Chelsea in the replay 2-1 at Stamford Bridge. Other than the O’s turning in a sterling performance against Chelsea, the game is also remembered for a wall collapsing during the first half at Brisbane Road. Fortunatately, no one was seriously injured.
killing at least 377 people in one of the worst disasters of its kind in history.
Information Minister Dariush Homayoun said the fire appeared to be one of a series violent antigovernment acts committed by “fanatics” and directed against “all signs of modern living and Westernization in Iran.”
Some diplomats held out the possibility that it could also mark the resurgence of terrorism by the Mujaheddine (People’s Strugglers), the most active of the hard-core urban guerrilla groups that were responsible for numerous bombings and assassinations in Iran a few years ago.
1977
China’s worst such fire was in 1977, when 694 people died – 597 of them children – in Xinjiang.
Xinhua said the owner of the private cinema in Jiaozuo was seriously injured in the fire and was undergoing emergency surgery at a local hospital.
Eleven people were rescued from the blaze which took 90 minutes to extinguish, said the agency.
The fire also destroyed a neighbouring cinema, it said without elaborating.
There was no immediate word on the cause of the fire
In 1977, an accident occured during the Malaysian Grand Prix, killing 5 children. This caused the track to be closed down, although it was re-opened after improvements of fences and guard rails were carried out.
Orginally published May 22, 2017
The Beverly Hills Supper Club.
There was nothing like it.
There still isn’t, and there likely never will be.
Perched on a hill in a most unlikely location – the otherwise buzz-free suburban community of Southgate, Kentucky — the Beverly Hills was a supernova, culturally and historically. It ruled the roost from 1971-1977.
1976
Port-au-Prince, Haiti; At a World Cup qualifier between Haiti and Cuba, the visitors scored and a Haitian fan set off a firecracker. Fans thought it was gunfire and panicked, knocking down a soldier, whose gun went off and killed a small boy and girl in the crowd. Further panic caused two people to be trampled to death, and one man died jumping over a wall. The soldier committed suicide.
Cameroon vs Congo
In the 1970s, Cameroon were gradually asserted themselves as a force to be reckoned with. The weight of expectation and supporters’ high spirits forced them to respond and perform accordingly, though they were up against an equally bullish Congo side who also felt they deserved to qualify for the tournament.
They locked horns in a two-leg knockout fixture, with the first game finishing 2-2 in Brazzaville. It left the encounter finely poised but the second leg in Yaounde on October 31, 1976 was abandoned.
Roger Milla broke the deadlock after just seven minutes, though Congo recovered well to going behind. Goals from Daniel Ebomoa and Jean-Jacques N’Doumba meant they had a slender advantage to protect as the second-half progressed.
However in the 82nd minute, the referee awarded Cameroon a spot-kick. The Congo goalkeeper reacted angrily to the official’s decision and personally targeted the referee, which prompted other team-mates to join him.
This was not all. Cameroonian president Ahmadou Ahidjo was watching the game on television and somehow managed to quickly scramble a helicopter and send his paratroopers to the fixture, seeking an immediate response to this incident.
Two people died in the chaos with the referee having no choice but to call the match off. Cameroon claimed their African counterparts started the ruckus, which was true, though they only helped the incident escalate dramatically.
Fire swept through a Bronx social club early yesterday morning, killing 25 young party‐goers and injuring 24 others who leaped from a second‐floor window—the sole means of escape from the blaze that had apparently been set in the building’s only staircase by an angry patron.
The death toll of 16 women and nine, men in the blaze, which broke out shortly after 2:30 A.M. in the Puerto Rican Social Club at 1003 Morris Avenue at East 165th Street, was the highest in a building fire here since 1958, when 27 died as a result of a fire at a textile factory at 623 Broadway.
Survivors Forced to Jump
So swiftly did the blaze spread through the 25‐foot by 50‐foot dance hall, accord ing to survivors, that there was no time for all to escape. Most of the bodies were found stacked up near the broad front windows, where the victims died of asphyxiation before they could reach the opening.
The survivors had been forced to jump, fire officials said, because a fire escape extending a short distance along one end of the window ledge was blocked by a rolling steel door, apparently installed to prevent burglaries.
1975
One of the deadliest tragedies involving a hockey game occurred on March 10, 1975.
It happened 41 years ago and much of it was clouded in mystery until recently. This happened at the height of the cold war era. The 1972 Summit Series was still very fresh in the memories of hockey fans.
Barrie Colts had just won the Wrigley National Midget Hockey Tournament (later Telus Cup), Canada’s national midget ice hockey championship. Each year, the winning team represented Canada in the Soviet Union for a series of games against their elite teams
In 1975 Barrie Colts went over to the Soviet Union where they played a six-game exhibition series. Several of these games was against the Soviet U-18 team.
1974
On June 30, 1974, a fire killed 24 show-goers and wounded 19 fans and 13 firefighters at Gulliver’s (777 West Putnam Avenue, Port Chester, NY).
200 came to see The Creation which featured future Kiss drummer Eric Carr (birthday today). He was among the last to escape and live.
His bandmate lead singer George Chase died. He had announced there was a fire at 1 am and stayed behind to help fans escape. Keyboardist Damon De Feis also died.
Patrons on the sunken dance floor were suddenly surrounded with smoke and the lights went out. Many were unable to get up the stairs where most died.
A stampede occurred on 17 February 1974 when fans were crushed before the kick-off of a football friendly match at the Zamalek Stadium in Cairo between Zamalek of Egypt and Dukla Prague of Czechoslovakia.
The total death toll is reported variously as 48, 49, or 50;50 more were injured during this event.
Following a change of venue for the match, many supporters thought they would not be able to enter the newly chosen stadium, as the previously intended venue, Nasser Stadium, was much larger. There was a stampede, the walls crumbled, and many people were left dead. According to reports, up to 80,000 people tried to access the stadium, despite the capacity at the time being just 40,000
Link to en.wikipedia.org article
1973
The UpStairs Lounge
The UpStairs Lounge was, much like the Pulse nightclub in Orlando, Fla., a haven for its local gay community, and, in 1973, having a place to socialize without fear was deeply important, even on liberal Bourbon Street in New Orleans. But it, too, became an unsafe place in an instant.
The lounge entered a notorious set of history books for becoming the site of New Orleans’ deadliest fire in nearly 200 years, and — until June 12, 2016 — was considered the largest mass killing of LGBT people in American history. On the night of June 24, 1973, someone started a fire in a stairwell leading to the UpStairs Lounge, and those flames claimed the lives of 32 people. No no one was ever prosecuted for the crime.
This devastating fire ripped through a leisure centre in the Isle of Man, killing 50 people and seriously injuring a further 80.
Opened with much fanfare a little more than two years earlier on 25 May 1971, the £2m climate-controlled building boasted restaurants and bars, an indoor heated swimming pool, saunas, a children’s theatre and an underground disco. It was billed as the most innovative indoor entertainment centre in the world and could house up to 10,000 tourists. However, the building’s exterior and interior were designed by different architects, resulting in significant fire risks that went unnoticed.
About 3,000 people were inside the complex when the blaze began, caused by a match discarded by three boys smoking in an outside kiosk.
1972
The fire started at 22:27 in the third floor, where women’s dresses were sold. The cause of the fire was said to be a cigarette butt or a smouldering match left behind by a construction worker. Immediate attempts to extinguish the fire failed. The fire department was informed of the fire at 22:40 and started firefighting at 22:43. By that time, the third and fourth floors were fuming black smoke. Women’s dresses for sale caught fire and helped spread the fire. The four floors from the second to the fifth were ablaze.
Poisonous gas resulting from burning construction materials filled the stairway and caused the majority of casualties. The loss was exacerbated by the locked exits in the cabaret. When elevators ceased to function, the situation turned into a mass panic. Twenty-four people attempted to escape by jumping out of windows, of whom 22 fell to their deaths. Ninety-six were found dead inside the cabaret. The fire was brought under control the next day and finally extinguished on the third day. Of the dead, 93 suffered carbon monoxide poisoning, three died from compression injuries in the chest and abdomen (meaning that they were probably trampled to death), and 22 died from jumping. Of the injured, 27 were firemen.
On the evening of Friday, September 1, 1972, the beginning of the Labour Day weekend, more than 200 people were at the bar celebrating. Around 10:45 PM, three young men (initial reports said four) were refused entry to the upstairs bar, as they appeared excessively intoxicated. Upset by this, Gilles Eccles, James O’Brien and Jean-Marc Boutin set a fire on the staircase that served as the only regular entrance or exit for the Wagon Wheel’s customers. “It was either a Molotov cocktail or gasoline spread on the stairs and then ignited,” said Montreal Police Inspector Armand Chaille. The entire bar was in flames within a few minutes, according to police.
With the primary escape route blocked by the fire advancing upward toward the crowded bar, its patrons sought out other exits. However, conflicting city building codes and fire regulations had left the upstairs bar with too few fire exits for its capacity of patrons. With the bar’s main exit aflame and its sole fire exit blocked, patrons were forced to use one of two escape routes: either through the kitchen onto a folding fire escape (the emergency exit was chained) or by climbing through a window in the women’s restroom and dropping some 20 feet onto a parked car. While it was originally reported that 42 people had died, later investigation determined that 37 people succumbed and perished as smoke and fire overtook the bar.
At its peak, the fire was fought by more than 50 firefighters. Five firefighters would be injured by smoke inhalation before the fire was declared out. At the time, the wearing of self-contained breathing apparatus (SCBA) was a relatively new practice and not as common among firefighters as it is today.
The fire was brought under control by 2:30 a.m., and extinguished by daybreak. With the fire out, recovery operations commenced. Police and firefighters found bodies in the washrooms, huddled in a corner that had no exit, and jammed in a rear section of the club close to a back entrance.
Link to en.wikipedia.org article
1971
The 1971 Ibrox disaster was a crush among the crowd at an Old Firm football game, which led to 66 deaths and over 200 injuries. It happened on 2 January 1971 in an exit stairway at Ibrox Park (now Ibrox Stadium) in Glasgow, Scotland
March 4, 1971 — Salvador, Brazil; A fight and a wild rush broke out in the grandstands, killing four and injuring 1,500.
1970
A fire at a nightclub in France has killed 142 people, most of them teenagers.
The club, a mile from the town of St Laurent du Pont, near Grenoble, was packed with revellers when the fire started at around 0145 local time (0045 GMT).
A fire department spokesman said the partly-wooden building “went up like a box of matches” and the victims perished within 10 minutes.
1969
DRAG RACER SLAMS INTO CROWD; 11 ARE KILLED, SCORES INJURED.
Covington, Ga. (AP) – A speeding drag racing car roared out of control Sunday at the Yellow River Drag Racing Strip, cutting a bloody swath through spectators, killing 11 and injuring 40 to 50 others.
Ididn’t know his name or anything, but he was standing along side of me. You know, we were both watching Mick Jagger, and a Hell’s Angel, the fat one. I don’t know his name or anything, he reached over — he didn’t like us being so close or something, you know, we were seeing Mick Jagger too well, or something. He was just being uptight. He reached over and grabbed the guy beside me by the ear and hair, and yanked on it, thinking it was funny, you know, kind of laughing. And so, this guy shook loose; he yanked away from him.
RollingStone.com
1968
On June 23, 1968, in El Monumental after a match between the two
1967
There had always been keen competition for regional supremacy between the neighboring Turkish cities of Kayseri and Sivas, but this had never spilled over into serious violence – until 1967. Provincial amateur football clubs were encouraged to merge in the mid 1960s to create single dubs capable of holding their own in the new Second Football League, a nationwide third tier for Turkish -professional football.
Three clubs in each city amalgamated to form Kayseri Erciyesspor and Sivasspor respectively. They went toe-to-toe for the first time in September 1967, providing the perfect opportunity for rival fans to strut their stuff – a confrontation inflamed by the fact that both teams were sharing top spot in the league. Around 5,000 supporters of Sivasspor headed for Kayseri the day before the match, flooding bars and less salubrious houses of entertainment. Quarrels broke out, fans were stabbed and police made 50 arrests.
1966
Three people died and 38 more were injured on Aug. 20, 1966, as Illinois State Fair workers were preparing a catwalk for a planned demonstration by U.S. Army Green Berets. The accident was the worst ever in state fair history.
The Green Berets intended to demonstrate how they were trained to rappel down from helicopters to rescue wounded soldiers in Vietnam. The plan involved stretching a taut rope 100 feet from the catwalk atop the fairgrounds grandstand to the ground.
All those involved believed the catwalk had been welded to the roof deck, according to testimony at a Sangamon County coroner’s inquest held Aug. 25. In fact, the structure was supported only by four angle irons attached to the deck with wood screws.
1964
318 people are killed and another 500 injured in riots at National Stadium after Argentina beats Peru in an Olympic qualifying match
1961
On December 17, 1961, a fire at a circus in Brazil kills more than 300 people and severely burns hundreds more. The cause of the fire was never conclusively determined but it may have been the result of sparks from a train passing nearby.
Christmas week was just beginning, the children had just begun their winter vacations, and spirits were high for the 2,500 in attendance at the Gran Circo Norte Americano, the Brazilian version of America’s Ringling Brothers. The large blue-and-white tent was set up across the bay from Rio de Janeiro and was filled to capacity. All seemed to be proceeding as planned when disaster struck suddenly.
1956
NIIGATA, Japan, Sunday, Jan. 1–Thirty thousand New Year’s worshipers stampeded at a famed Shinto shrine at five minutes after midnight today. At least 112 persons were trampled to death.
1955
The 1955 Le Mans disaster occurred during the 1955 24 Hours of Le Mans motor
On 11 May 1955, in a wooden shack fire during cinema projection, 58 people (including 36 children) perished, the worst one-day death toll in Polish post-war history. This tragedy was commemorated by a monument, which stands in Wielopole’s market square.
1954
But what happened on 3 February 1954 has since gone down as one of the most horrific chapters in independent India’s history. On that day, lakhs of devotees had arrived at Sangam to take a holy dip on the auspicious occasion of Mauni Amavasya (or New Moon day). But by the end of the day, around 1000 people lay dead on the ghats and around 2000 others injured due to a stampede.
1953
The viewing line that stretched through the center of Moscow was clearly marked and guarded by the police and army, which used vehicles to maintain order (as they hoped). Then, on March 6, 1953, people came in large crowds to Trubnaya Square from the narrow Rozhdestvensky Boulevard, and found the square partly blocked with cordons of trucks and troops on horseback.
There wasn’t enough room for people to pass, yet they couldn’t go back as the others were still coming. “The crowd got more tightly packed and you couldn’t move, you just had to go with it, unable to escape the flow,” said Yelena Zaks, one of the thousands of people caught in the crowd. She was lucky enough – when she was passing by the guarded fence, one of the soldiers standing up above grabbed her and took her out of the crowd, possibly saving her life.
1946
The Burnden Park
1943
The Tube station had regularly been used by up to 7,000 Londoners at a time to shelter from German bombing raids.
When the sirens began at 20:17 GMT on 3 March, 1,500 locals hurried to the shelter but, although the raids were anticipated, no-one was on duty and only one door was open.
Roars from new anti-aircraft guns in nearby Victoria Park were mistakenly thought to be enemy bombs and the crowd surged forward in panic.
One woman, clutching her young child, lost her footing and fell, pulling an elderly man down with her.
Bodies quickly piled up at base of the steps, whilst those at the top, unaware of what had happened continued to try and force their way down.
A seething mass of women and children, all wearing thick clothes and gasping for air quickly developed. Though some escaped, 173 people, overwhelmingly women and children were asphyxiated.
.
1929
It was the afternoon of Hogmanay 1929. Seven-year-old Robert Pope and his friends headed for Paisley’s Glen Cinema. It was a regular treat which Robert funded himself by selling empty jelly jars. That winters day they were looking forward to the latest installment of their favorite Western.
1903
The Iroquois Theatre fire occurred on December 30, 1903, in Chicago, Illinois. It is the deadliest
1902
On 5 April 1902, during the 1902 British Home Championship match between Scotland and England, the back of the newly built West Tribune Stand collapsed due to heavy rainfall the previous night. Hundreds of supporters fell up to 40 feet (12 m) to the ground below. 25 people died and 517 were injured
