Shanghai Stampede Death Toll Rises to at Least 36; Accounts Differ on Cause

Shanghai Stampede Death Toll Rises to at Least 36; Accounts Differ on Cause

Hospitals Full of Friends and Relatives Seeking News on Loved Ones

By James T. Areddy in the Wall Street Journal

SHANGHAI—Family and friends rushed to hospitals Thursday looking for loved ones among the dozens of people who died in a New Year’s Eve stampede, with some asking whether city officials had provided adequate security on a night when thousands gathered to greet 2015.

Online video and photos of the event—an annual tradition in Shanghai—showed what appeared to be thousands of people in the glittery Bund district, along the banks of the Huangpu River. There were shouts and then screams as the crowd surged and people fell underfoot, smartphone screens flickering in their hands.

Authorities reported 36 fatalities and said another 47 people were injured, with the victims largely young and female.

“It was utter chaos. There were too many people in a small space,” said Andrew Jordan Shainker, 28 years old, an American teacher in Shanghai who said he watched the disaster unfold from a nearby restaurant at about 11:30 p.m. He said people elsewhere appeared to continue celebrating even after the stampede.

The cause of the crush wasn’t clear; President Xi Jinping ordered an investigation. Chinese official media initially focused on a claim from a witness that celebrants may have been riled up by fake $100 U.S. bills dropped from a nearby nightclub, though police said late Thursday that the mock bills were dropped after the stampede.

Witnesses told The Wall Street Journal that the stampede occurred on the other side of the street, on stone steps leading to a promenade and adjacent to a statue of a former Shanghai mayor, Chen Yi.

“We were coming down the stairs and all of a sudden the people above us started sliding down and pushing all of us down,” said a man at Changzheng hospital, who said his fiancée died in the chaos. “I lost sight of my girlfriend immediately, and the next thing I knew I was already on the ground. The stampede lasted for about 20 minutes or more.”

Some family members and local media focused on security on the Bund.

“There were only a few security guards there,” said one man at the Shanghai No. 1 People’s Hospital, who said he lost a friend. “I heard there was armed police last year.” He added, “the whole situation was out of control.”

Immediately before midnight, the small number of police on one street appeared to struggle to control a crowd that at times surged one way or another, initially running toward the Bund and later away from it. At one point, an ambulance aiming for the Bund got marooned in the crowd for several minutes as police tried to clear a path.

Police and security staffing levels weren’t clear. City and police officials didn’t respond to requests for comment Thursday.

Questioned about security measures at a news conference for local media, police said they were appropriate. Cai Lixin, a local police official, said police had trouble getting to the disturbance because of the crowd. “Eventually we took forceful measures” to “separate the tide,” Mr. Cai said, adding that the push took five to eight minutes.

The official China National Radio paraphrased Mr. Cai as saying security forces were lower for the New Year’s Eve celebration than at the National Day holiday celebration in October because no official event was planned.

The report was picked up by some other Chinese media outlets, but a recording showed that Mr. Cai didn’t make those comments at the news conference, and it wasn’t clear if CNR had spoken with him separately. Mr. Cai couldn’t be reached for comment.

Family and friends at area hospitals argued with police and hospital workers while looking for information. Late Thursday, some family members were told by police not to cause trouble like speaking with the media, according to one.

A man at Changzheng hospital said his 26-year-old cousin lost her life. “I rushed here from home to take care of things because her family members were devastated,” he said.

Security guards and police square off in the emergency-room lobby of Shanghai No. 1 People’s Hospital.

Scenes from a deadly New Year's Eve stampede that killed dozens in Shanghai's riverfront Bund area.

Information was in short supply in the crowded hall of No. 1 People’s Hospital. Sick people lay in beds around the lobby, though most were overflow patients rather than victims of the stampede. Dozens of police officers were also in the lobby.

A woman with reddened eyes said she was looking for her son who was at the Bund, but she doesn’t know his situation. A man held aloft a picture of his son.

The Bund is one of China’s biggest tourist attractions and one of the most recognizable places in the country, with the neon skyscrapers of the Pudong area across the Huangpu River serving as the backdrop for countless tourist photos.

The New Year’s Eve event usually features a light show over the two sides of the Huangpu and is normally heavily attended along several riverside blocks.

Typically, authorities block off streets from traffic and give revelers a rare opportunity to walk on the wide street in front of the city’s waterfront buildings that date to the early part of the 20th century.

The Bund countdown event was moved to a new location this year because of concerns about a surging crowd in past years, according to local authorities quoted by official media.

Initial reports from official media on Thursday had suggested the crowd may have been excited by fake $100 bills being thrown from above. The fake currency resembled a $100 note but the club name—M18—was inscribed on it.

Management of the club didn’t respond to requests for comment.

An M18 employee said the fake bills were decorations stacked on a table at the club and were available to clubgoers. The employee—who said the stampede went unnoticed inside the club—also said it locks its windows, though another club above it has a balcony.

At the M18 venue Thursday morning, one of the fake notes lay on the floor at the front door, which featured a giant mirror ball, along with a party favor resembling a firecracker.

—Shen Hong, Rose Yu, Daniel Inman, Wynne Wang and Brian Spegele in Shanghai, Yang Jie and Olivia Geng in Beijing and Colum Murphy in Hong Kong contributed to this article.

China’s History of Deadly Stampedes

Stampedes aren’t uncommon in China, a country of 1.3 billion people. Authorities in recent years have taken steps that include training for school personnel and banning limited-time sales promotions at stores in an effort to curb them.

Some tragic incidents from recent years:

• November 2014 — An earthquake caused a panicked rush at a school in Tagong in Sichuan province, injuring 42 children.

• September 2014 — Six students were killed and 26 injured at a school in Kunming in China’s Yunnan province after they tripped over a cushion and were trapped under the feet of other children. Seven people were suspended or removed from their government posts over the matter.

• January 2014 — Fourteen people were killed and another 10 injured at a mosque as it handed out bread as part of a ceremony in the county of Xiji in China’s Ningxia region.

• February 2013 — Four students died at a school in Hubei province because teachers failed to open a gate at a local dormitory on time, officials said.

• December 2009 — Eight students were killed at 26 injured in Hunan province when students when students tried to exit down a narrow stairwell.

• March 2009 — Two people were killed and 11 injured in the southwestern city of Chongqing at a promotional event for a health-care product at a hotel. People said the organizers didn’t have permission to hold the event.

• November 2007 — A deal on discounted cooking oil at a Carrefour outlet in Chongqing led to a stampede that killed three people and injured 31. China’s Commerce Ministry banned time-limited sales promotions in shops, after 10 people had been injured at a similar event in a Shanghai suburb two weeks before.

–Source: Xinhua News Agency, WSJ reporting