At least 35 dead, 42 injured in Shanghai New Year's stampede
BEIJING (Reuters) - At least 35
people were killed and 42 were injured in a stampede during a New Year's
celebration in Shanghai, on the city's famed waterfront tourist strip
known as the Bund, Chinese media reported.
The
official Xinhua news agency said that large crowds in Chen Yi Square on
the Bund led to the stampede, which happened just before midnight, with
authorities working to rescue and aid the wounded.
It was not immediately clear what triggered the stampede. Xinhua said many of the injured were students.
Photographs
on Weibo, the Chinese version of Twitter, showed densely packed crowds
of revelers along the Bund, which is lined with buildings from
Shanghai's pre-communist heyday along the bank of the Huangpu River.
In
some photographs, rescue workers were seen trying to resuscitate
victims lying on the pavement while ambulances waited nearby.
Authorities
had shown some concern about crowd control in the days leading up to
New Year's eve. They recently canceled an annual 3D laser show on the
Bund that last year attracted as many as 300,000 people.
(Reporting by Ben Blanchard; Editing by Howard Goller)