The Nightmare of Duisburg (Loveparade Failure)

"A stampede killed 19 people yesterday and injured over 340, some seriously, in the techno party Loveparade , being held this year in the city of Duisburg, western Germany. The wounded included four Spanish students who have been discharged, according to diplomatic sources have confirmed to the Cadena Ser. The panic began in the access tunnel to the festival site, which had gathered hundreds of thousands of people. In the afternoon, the police banned the entry of new visitors to the former goods station where they were celebrating. Hundreds of people, angry about being out, tried jumping over fences or trying to sneak in side entrances. The tunnel of the tragedy became a funnel through which many thought they could come to the party and others tried to get away from the site following the instructions of the police.

According to several witnesses, the subway was packed for more than an hour. The shortness of breath and suffocation caused tens of fainting. Around five o'clock in the afternoon, panic ensued. The head of the cabinet crisis of Duisburg, Wolfgang Rabe, said last night on public television ARD that panic originated near an entrance to the pass. In this version, several people fell into the void while trying to sneak into the party climbing the fences. The police said, last night, these young people fell from a fire escape with trying to sneak. His fall from eight to 10 meters would have caused panic and the stampede of those who crowded into the tunnel. WDR public television also collected statements from witnesses who accused police of negligence.

While the tragedy is consummated in the tunnel, the party continued at the site. The organizers chose not to inform attendees to avoid further incidents and outbreaks of mass hysteria. Many in the Loveparade, the highest expression (number of visitors) of the nineties rave culture, illegal drugs and heavy alcohol drinking.

A cabinet crisis in the city of Duisburg decided "for security reasons" not to suspend the event after the disaster, according to City Hall spokesman, Frank Kopatschek. Mobile phones and word of mouth spread the news. Gradually, the visitors were leaving the premises by emergency exits, but at eight o'clock in the afternoon was playing techno music. 

The venue which hosted the 2010 fatal Loveparade was too small for the huge number of fans who often turn to the call of summer techno. The frustration of being left out of the party, combined with alcohol and drugs, certainly contributed to the tension that culminated in the tragedy. According to a reporter from WDR, the emergency services were immediately overwhelmed by the situation. Loveparade 1200 was in the police: one per thousand revelers, according to some estimates.

The incident occurred in a pedestrian tunnel leading to the entrance of a former railway station, where they celebrated the festival, which organizers estimate that had gone a million people. Access to the event was closed due to overcrowding, reports the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung. According to witnesses, police tried to prevent him getting more people to the site. Some of the people trying to access has dropped pushed by the mass and have been crushed.

Health services could barely cut through the crowd to treat the injured. According to the same newspaper, the festival has not been immediately suspended after the incident and continued to hold some performances. In the north of the site is still listening to the music minutes after the avalanche. The health service spokesman said that until that area of campus news of what happened had not yet arrived.

Organizational challenge

A celebration of this size is an organizational challenge for a city of less than half a million people as Duisburg. The turnout was massive and came to double the municipal census. So the trucks with the DJ and music is not passed through the streets of the town, as was done in all previous editions, but stayed in the room festive. The former goods station was surrounded by metal fences. Apparently there was only one access. The tragedy tunnel converged at the main entrance. The rejected trying to use it to leave, while thousands of people jostled to enter.

A witness told by phone news channel N-TV how "some were already on the ground, others tried to climb the walls to enter the premises." The masses of people "began to pass over those on the ground, ie a true mass panic."
Chancellor Angela Merkel expressed solidarity night with the victims of the incident. It said "sad and shocked by the pain and suffering" of families. The federal president, Christian Wulff, in turn asked for clarification of "all" the causes and responsibilities of the "horrible catastrophe."" Article source: www.loveparade.ro.

As a conclusion, this event is considered a big failure, gone tragically, so I've decided no music to be played on this post. Let us share a few moments of silence in memory of those trapped in a nightmare.