Thousands gather in Shanghai to mourn 36 who died in stampede

Thousands gathered along Shanghai’s historic Bund waterfront yesterday to mourn the 36 people who died during a stampede on New Year’s Eve as 300,000 people gathered along the Huangpu River to celebrate.

Among the injured, 13 sustained severe injuries including four who were in critical condition. Of the 36 dead, 21 were women in their 20s and the youngest was a 12-year-old boy.

Officials have now discounted reports that the stampede was caused by a rush to pick up fake banknotes dropped from a nightclub overlooking the Bund, while rumours that a knife-wielding assailant caused panic have also been denied.

Tragedy

There were two rows of flowers placed in front of a statue of

Chen Yi

, a former mayor of

Shanghai

who gave his name to the square where the tragedy took place.

The stampede is the deadliest disaster to strike China’s financial hub since a fire at a high-rise building in 2010. It started at about 11.35pm as tens of thousands of visitors gathered along the promenade of the historic Bund waterfront to watch a light show.

"I'm shocked," one woman, surnamed Weng, told the China Daily newspaper as she laid a bouquet of flowers. "Shanghai is an orderly city and viewed as more civilised than other cities in China. Although I didn't know anyone who died or was injured, I'm here to offer my condolences."

Shanghai’s Bund is one of the most popular tourist sites in the city of 23 million. It is lined with buildings from the era last century when Shanghai was run by foreign powers, and it faces across the Huangpu River to the glittering skyline of the city’s new financial district, Pudong. Police said the cause of the incident was still being investigated, but conceded that fewer officers were deployed to cope with the crowds than for the National Day holiday – another event that draws big crowds to the Bund.

Investigation

“There were no (celebration) activities yesterday, so we didn’t dispatch as many officers as on last year’s National Day,”

Cai Lixin

, a senior officer at Shanghai Public Security Bureau’s Huangpu branch, told the newspaper.

China's President Xi Jinping has ordered an investigation into what happened and with a view to the forthcoming Lunar New Year holiday, he has ordered local governments to prioritise safety and make sure procedures are in place to stop potential incidents taking place at areas where crowds congregate during the event, known as the Spring Festival in China.

"For large-scale activities, security risk assessment and prediction are very important," Qin Liqiang, a professor of Administration on Public Security at the People's Public Security University of China, said. "This tragedy surely tells that we need to strengthen the aforehand assessment, especially at some of the most risky spots."