More Stupidity

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/west_midlands/8360560.stm

About sixty people have been injured during a crowd surge at Birmingham’s Christmas lights switch-on.

More than 20,000 people turned out for the event at Millennium Point, which had been due to feature acts including JLS and the Sugababes.

A city council spokesperson said more people than expected had turned out and they had feared for crowd safety.

Reports suggested up to 27,000 people were at the site by the time band JLS finished performing at 1330 GMT.

The council said a combination of fears over the number of people and bad weather led them to cancel the event.

West Midlands Ambulance Service said four people were taken to hospital and a further 56 patients were assessed by ambulance crews in a make-shift triage area.

‘Absolute chaos’

A spokeswoman said a woman in her 30s suffered serious crush injuries to her pelvis, shoulder and leg.

A second woman suffered a broken ankle, a teenage boy had a broken wrist and a teenage girl suffered crush injuries to her back and legs.

Martin Krol, who lives in a flat overlooking Millennium Point, said he saw people pushing at a fence at the front of the crowd.

He said: “Police had already stopped people from going through into the main bit because there were so many of them, so an extra line of people had been created at the back of the main crowd.

“The police were totally outnumbered – there were far too many people in the crowd for them to be able to cope.

“It was absolute chaos – the ambulances couldn’t get through – and it took quite a while for them to be able to clear the area because there were so many people.

 

Sigh. How many times do I have to say it. Some. People. Are Stupid.Beyond.Belief