10 die in crowd crush at Japanese festival

At least 10 people have been crushed to death at a Japanese fireworks festival.

At least 10 people have been crushed to death at a Japanese fireworks festival.

Dozens more were injured including children, in the state of Hyogo in Akashi.

The youngest of the dead was two years old, said a police official.

Kyodo News agency said the dead included a 71-year-old woman and a 7-year-old boy.

READ MORE

The crush came on a packed pedestrian overpass outside the railway station in Akashi, after the fireworks, Hyogo police spokesman Mr Masafumi Oshita said.

"The crowd was so thick that people just couldn't stay on their feet. The footbridge is the only route across a busy road from the beach where the crowd watched the fireworks display to the station," national broadcaster NHK said.

"As soon as the fireworks ended, many people started pushing, and people started getting angry and yelling at each other," a youth in a T-shirt told national broadcaster NHK. "The woman next to me fell, and I landed on top of her. She was having trouble breathing."

"I was so scared," the youth said, "I thought I was going to die."

PA