Angry survivors demanded answers from organisers on Sunday after 19 people were killed in a stampede at Germany's Love Parade and prosecutors launched an inquiry into how the tragedy unfolded.
At a heated press conference in the western German city of Duisburg, officials said 18 of the dead had been identified, including six from Australia, Italy, the Netherlands, China and two from Spain.
Deputy police chief Detlef von Schmeling said the victims, aged between 20 and 40, died as they tried to get out from a crush in a narrow, overcrowded tunnel that served as the only entrance to the festival grounds.
“Fourteen people died on the metal steps leading away from the tunnel, two on a wall outside the tunnel,” he said.
Officials said 340 people were injured in the melee as fresh accounts emerged of the “unimaginable” scenes that unfolded as thousands who piled into the tunnel became trapped in a bottleneck.
“I saw dead people in the tunnel, others alive but unconscious on the ground.” said Anneke Kuypers (18) from New Zealand. “Others were crying.”
The head of the Love Parade in Germany, Rainer Schaller, said the popular event, which began in Berlin in 1989, would not be held again, “out of respect for the victims and their families”.
But many revellers remained unaware and kept on dancing after the incident on Saturday as authorities kept a lid on the news to avoid further panic, a decision which angered some survivors.
“What's crazy is that the party carried on. That's just not right. People kept on dancing even though they might have had friends who had died,” said a a girl (31) from Hanover. “At the end, the organisers even said ‘thank you for a great day.”
Shock turned quickly to anger as partygoers criticised the fact that there was only one entrance to the festival, through the tunnel.
Media reports said the festival grounds were only big enough to contain around 250,000 people, while around six times that number turned up, according to organisers.
Chancellor Angela Merkel said she was horrified by the catastrophe.
“Young people came to party. Instead, there was death and injury. I am aghast and saddened by the sorrow and the pain,” she said.
