PEOPLE were knocked over and trampled and those who tried to help them ended up on the ground as well at a Smashing Pumpkins concert on May 11th at which a schoolgirl died.
A number of witnesses at the inquest yesterday into the death of Bernadette O'Brien (16) of Ballymaloe, Midleton, Co Cork, told of the crush at the front of the concert, the swaying of the crowd during which they lost their footing, and the fear which spread as people fell and were unable to get up.
At the beginning of the inquest a deposition from Bernadette's friend, Ms Anna Glaser, a German resident who was not in court, was read by the registrar.
It described how the two friends had got the bus from Cork to Busarus, where they were met by Bernadette's cousin, Ms Kay Cahill.
Ms Cahill brought them to her apartment in Rathmines, and later they had a meal together in the city centre.
The next day the two teenagers went into the city to shop, and later went to a pub to watch the Cup Final with Ms Cahill's fiance, Liam. When they returned, they got ready for the concert which was held at the Point Depot.
Ms Cahill told the court that Anna arrived home alone around 12.30a.m. She said that she and Bernadette had arranged a meeting point if they got lost or separated. When Bernadette failed to turn up, she made her way back to Rathmines.
Ms Cahill brought her back to the Point. They heard on the radio that a girl had been critically injured. Ms Cahill rang her boyfriend and told him to ring the Mater Hospital.
He discovered that Bernadette had been critically injured, and the hospital wanted to contact her parents. They then went to the hospital, where Bernadette was on life support. The O'Briens arrived from Cork at about 4 a.m.
Mr Robert Acton (17), from Mullingar, told the court that he had travelled with a group of about 25 to the concert. After being searched by security he went to the front of the stage to listen to the support group, Filter.
"A number of people were coming in. People were sitting in the balconies and they started moving down. This was when I started to worry. The security men were behind barriers. I was being squashed and crushed.
"A guy fell down. I put out my hand to help him up. The crowd was moving from side to side. I tell. I could see the crowd coming over my head and tramping my head and rib cage. Someone kicked me on the bottom of my nose and I lost consciousness.
"Four guys were trying to lift me and get me to the Red Cross. I could not breathe, I'm slightly asthmatic. I asked for an inhaler. They did not have one, but they put me on a nebuliser."
Mr Acton described how he lost consciousness again, was given an injection and placed on a stretcher. After a time he got off the stretcher and went back into the crowd, where people were jumping up and down. A lot of people were on the ground. Eventually, he found his friends, and went home with them on the bus.
The next day he was brought to Mullingar General Hospital for X-rays, and later visited his doctor. He had crushed ribs and experienced flashbacks of being crushed. His doctor said he was suffering from post traumatic stress disorder. "I've been put off going to concerts. I won't go to the Point again," he said.
Mr Michael Nesdale from Cork was also at the concert that night, and had taken up position near the barrier at the front, where the crowd was very compacted. "I felt a surge from right to left, and left to right, not from the back to the front," he said.
"I'm 23, I'm six foot two and 12 stone. I still had no control over my movements. I felt too old to keep pace. I leant down to get my jacket which was tied to the barrier. I realised the seriousness of the situation when it took all my strength to get back up, and I lost my jacket.
"There was a `black hole' in front of me of people who had fallen down. I started to wade into the `black hole' and pick people up and flung them into the front to be taken out."
The band stopped playing for a while after the the third song and appealed for the crowd to calm down and move back. "If they didn't the situation would have been much worse," said Mr Nesdale.
He told the coroner "there was no room whatsoever for dancing. People were preoccupied with keeping themselves straight, and alive".
The inquest was adjourned until October 21st.