A series of tragic crowd crushes have occurred, from a music festival in Houston, a stampede at a football stadium in England, a pilgrimage in Saudi Arabia, to a nightclub crush in Chicago. This tragedy struck again during the Halloween festival in Seoul, South Korea, on the night of October 29, resulting in at least 149 fatalities and 150 injuries.
Most of these tragedies share some common points. (Illustrative image).
Causes of Fatalities in Crowd Crushes
While images and videos of crowds trying to escape indicate that trampling is likely the cause of most casualties, the reality is that the majority of those who die in crowd crushes succumb to asphyxiation.
It is hard to believe that the force of a crowd can be strong enough to bend steel. This means that many people cannot breathe in such a crowded situation.
“When people try to stand up, their limbs become intertwined. A reduction in blood circulation to the brain begins to occur,” said G. Keith Still, a professor at Suffolk University in England.
“Within about 30 seconds, they will lose consciousness, and within about 6 minutes, they will succumb to asphyxiation. Overall, the primary cause of death is not trampling but asphyxiation.”
Experiences of Survivors
Survivors of crowd crush tragedies have shared that they were pushed into a state resembling being overwhelmed by a torrent of people as others desperately climbed over them to escape. They described the experience as feeling as if they were pinned against a door that could not be opened.
“Survivors reported feeling gradually crushed, unable to move while their heads were locked between arms, shoulders, and panicked faces,” a report stated following the 1989 crush at Hillsborough Stadium in England, which resulted in nearly 100 deaths.
“They knew they were dying and desperately sought ways to save themselves,” the report continued.
In a Chicago nightclub in 2003, a crowd crush occurred after security used tear gas to disperse a fight, resulting in 21 fatalities. Earlier this month in Indonesia, 131 people died when security forces deployed tear gas to disperse unruly fans who rushed onto the field after a match, leading to a crush at the exits.
In Nepal in 1988, a sudden heavy rain caused football fans to rush toward the stadium exit, resulting in 93 deaths due to the crowd crush. In the recent tragedy in South Korea, some news outlets reported that the incident occurred when a large number of people flocked to a bar after hearing that a celebrity was present there.
