Thirty-six people died while 49 others were injured during the Shanghai Bund tragedy. (Photo : Reuters)
Holiday revelry turned into a big tragedy as 35 people were killed and at least 48 were injured in a massive stampede during the traditional New Year celebration in Shanghai's popular riverfront Bund area Chen Yi Square a few minutes before midnight on Wednesday.
State media Xinhua news agency reported that around 11:35 in the evening, a total chaos ensued as people started screaming and stumbling on each other.
Upon investigation by the authorities, the cause of the stampede were coupons that resembled dollar bills being thrown from the third floor of a nearby building. Witnesses said the sight of the "dollar bills" flying in the air made the people scramble after them, ensuing in a big chaos.
China's main social network site Weibo was flooded by pictures of the scene, showing huge crowds running in the streets near the river, emergency rescue officers treating the wounded on the ground, and pieces of fake dollar bills scattered among the wounded.
CCTV America reported that most of the victims were students. Video clips from different media agencies show people crowding China's First People's Hospital, where most of the wounded were treated. Beijing police have to use force to restrain the people crowding the hospital waiting rooms desperately seeking their missing friends and relatives who were with them during the celebration but got separated during the stampede.
The promenade beside Huangpu River has long been the traditional venue for New Year's Eve celebration in Shanghai. However, just last week, Shanghai Daily reported that the government already cancelled the New Year's Eve light show because of problems regarding crowd control. Local officials said that the celebration last year attracted almost 300,000 attendees and crowd dispersal was a huge problem.
Government officials are planning scaled down celebrations to be held in different areas within the city to avoid overcrowding. But the government officials are still on red alert because even though huge celebrations are being cancelled, Chinese people still follow old traditions and still crowd the same old place and celebrate among themselves, doing the new year countdown.
