New Year's Celebrations Stampede In Shanghai: 35 Dead!!!!!

New Year's revellers jammed along Shanghai's historic riverfront stampeded about a half hour before midnight Wednesday, killing at least 35 people and injuring 43 others, Chinese media reported. City officials said they had not yet determined what triggered the stampede about 11:35 p.m. in Chenyi Square on the Bund, the state-run Xinhua News Agency reported early Thursday. Many of the dead and injured were students.

A brief report on Xinhua's English-language site said celebrations "went astray" and "a stampede resulted in casualties."

A witness said people had scrambled to grab coupons resembling U.S. dollar bills that were being thrown from a third-floor window near the Bund.

It is the worst disaster in Shanghai in recent years.

The English-language Shanghai Daily noted that the stampede occurred near where a New Year countdown show was being held in the Bund Origin, a relatively enclosed area. Last week, officials canceled the scheduled 3-D laser show in an open area of the Bund because of crowd concerns.

Nearly 300,000 turned out for last year's laser show. Authorities relocated the New Year celebration to the smaller area and limited attendance to 2,000 invitation-only guests . The local government had said the show was relocated "to improve traffic flow."

The Bund -- meaning embankment -- runs along the Huangpu River and features buildings from the city's pre-revolution heyday, when it was a financial center for Asia.

Video from CCTV America, the U.S. version of state broadcaster China Central Television, showed piles of shoes amid the debris. Photographs showed bodies lying on the streets and attempts to revive victims.

Reuters reported that by dawn, workers were cleaning trash around the Bund and that there "was little sign of the mayhem that had broken out just hours earlier."

SOURCE : USA TODAY