Beijing, January 2 – What was meant to be a New Year celebration in Shanghai’s iconic riverfront Bund turned out into a nightmare for revellers as a surging stampede left at least 36 people killed – most young college students – plunging China into mourning at the start of 2015.
Tens of thousands had gathered along the Bund for a New Year’s Eve celebration – an annual custom in China’s 23 million-strong commercial capital – before a melee snowballed into a stampede.
As of Thursday afternoon, 36 people, including 25 women, were reported killed. The youngest was 16 years old. Around 40 people were injured, among whom 13 were in a serious condition. Videos posted online showed chaotic scenes on the riverfront Bund, as police and ambulances struggled to make their way through a sea of people.
Local reports attributed the chaos to fake “dollar bills” being thrown into the crowd, leading some to suggest foul play. Several witnesses told State media that bills resembling United States banknotes were thrown into the crowd, triggering a scramble.
Witnesses described “hellish” scenes as many, especially the young, fell under swarms of people on the cramped riverfront. Photographs on social media showed some bar owners throwing fake banknotes into the air, although Shanghai establishments denied having done so.
President Xi Jinping on Thursday ordered an “immediate investigation” into the cause of the stampede and said “a profound lesson” should be learned from the incident, especially with a number of prominent national holidays, from the Chinese New Year and Lantern Festival, to be held in coming weeks.
Wednesday’s was the third major stampede in 2014 in China. In January, 14 people were killed in a mosque in the Muslim minority Ningxia region, while in September six students were killed in a primary school in southwestern Yunnan.
-INDIA TODAY
