Crush at the Love Parade in Duisburg

The tragedy occurred at about 17:00 at the entrance to the event.

The entrance was on the street. Karl Lera ^[1] , passing with its tunnels under the 59th expressway and railway lines of the Duisburg main station. This street was the main approach to the venue, which was held on the territory of the old freight station Duisburg. The total complexity of the territory is designed for approximately 250,000-300,000 people, at the last "Love Parades" in the cities of Essen and Dortmund there were about one and a half million people. The German railways (Deutsche Bahn) reported that around 105,000 people arrived by 14:00 with their special trains. In Duisburg itself, about half a million people live.

The Speaker of the Police said that by 16:00, firstly, two streams of incoming traffic from two sides on ul. Karl Lera ravers and spectators, secondly, emerging. Wider entrance from the street. Mercator was closed to ordinary visitors and was intended only for organizers, ambulances, police, firefighters and other important persons. Highway 59 was blocked and it housed ambulance services, various services and after the tragedy became the site of a kind of hospital for the wounded.

How the tragedy began and how it proceeded, for 2015 is considered to be not fully clarified ^[2] . An investigation commission has been created and all documentation for the preparation of the event for all services of the city of Duisburg and other responsible persons and organizations has been transferred to it. Police and firefighters warned city officials of doubts about security measures at the upcoming event ^[3] .

The media reported the tragedy that occurred due to mass panic in a crowded tunnel, where all entrances and exits were closed, as a result of which people were injured. 14 people were crushed and trampled to the death in the area of ​​the western staircase (narrow and possible for only one person to move in one direction), along which some visitors tried to get into the event, unable to withstand long standing in a crowded tunnel at an air temperature of thirty degrees outside and pressure from those pushing behind and still going to the event, as well as from the side of those leaving or walking from the side of another tunnel. The crowd swept away each other, all the fences, but was locked by the concrete walls of the tunnel, and in some places also by ceilings on top of the highway and railway lines. The organizers and the police lost control of the events (at 16:00 they had a shift and the person responsible for the next shift was late due to the fact that he was at the birth of his child and came to the service directly from the delivery room).

The Minister of the Interior of North Rhine Westphalia confirmed that from 16:01 to 16:40 the entrance was blocked by a chain of police officers. A police spokesman for Duisburg said on Wednesday July 25th that, according to him, the police did not put up any fences. The newspaper “Rhine Post” (Die Rheinische Post) reported on July 28 that according to numerous eyewitnesses, living fencing from a chain of policemen and gathered a crowd. These fences were on the south side, where they entered, and on the north, where they tried to exit. As soon as the chains suddenly parted, the crowds of people entering moved in and were blocked by the oncoming stream of those leaving.

Rainer Schaller, the responsible organizer and sponsor of the event, said on the evening of July 26: “The police were told to open the fences facing the west side of Düsseldorf Street.” However, uncontrolled flows of incoming and outgoing collided in the tunnel.

A total of July 29 died in a stampede and died in hospitals - 21 people. Almost everything from crushed chest injuries. Among the dead, citizens of Germany, Australia, China, Italy, Spain - 13 women and 8 men. The number of wounded who applied to hospitals exceeded the figure of 500 people ^[4] , not counting those who survived the shock of mass panic, stampede, loss of loved ones.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel made a statement that the tragedy terrifies her, that she mourns with others. German President Christian Wulff also expressed his condolences to the victims of the tragedy, which “caused death, grief and pain against the backdrop of a peaceful festival of cheerful young people from many countries. ... My thoughts are with the victims, their families and friends. ”

The German supreme authority ordered an “intensive” investigation into the causes of the tragedy. The prosecutor’s office has launched an investigation.

The New Rhine Newspaper called on the mayor of Adolf Sauerland to resign due to the tragedy ^[5] . Duisburg residents voted for the resignation of Mayor Adolf Sauerland, blaming him for the death of people in a crush on Love Parade ^[6] .

The crush was filmed ^[7]

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