Beijing festival crush kills at least 37

A Chinese Lunar New Year lantern and fireworks display ended in disaster yesterday when at least 37 people were crushed or trampled to death on a bridge packed with spectators, officials said.

The accident happened in Mihong Park in a northern suburb of Beijing where hundreds of revellers were packed on a metal, rainbow-shaped bridge decked out with ribbons and pictures of monkeys, heralding the beginning of the Year of the Monkey.

"A person slipped and fell on the bridge, causing people to fall forward and stampede, trampling to death 37 people and injuring 15," a Beijing city government publicity official at the scene told Reuters.

Witnesses said frantic parents were searching for their children in the freezing night air after the crush. All that was left after the bodies were taken away was scattered clothes and shoes and an eerie quiet.

"Most of them were crushed and suffocated by the crowd," said a doctor at the Miyun County Hospital where victims were taken. Hospital officials confirmed the death toll.

It was the second annual lantern festival at the park, framed around the 100-metre bridge astride a frozen canal decked out with lanterns.

Lao Shi, searching the accident site for his daughter's shoes, said police had to block spectators from the bridge last year because it was too crowded.

"There was a bad omen last year, and they didn't do anything about it," he said, adding that his daughter escaped the crush unscathed.

Witness Chi Zhangfeng said the railing on the bridge seemed too low.

"There were all these people crowding on the bridge, probably a few hundred. With that many people, there was sure to be a problem," he said. "I heard lots of people screaming, it seemed like it happened pretty fast."