Furious Love Parade survivors slam organisers

Angry survivors demanded ans-wers yesterday after 19 people were killed in a stampede at Germany's Love Parade and prosecutors launched an inquiry into who was to blame for the tragedy.

At a heated press conference, authorities could offer little explanation as to what had led to the deadly mass panic in the western city of Duisburg amid reports that organisers ignored warnings that the venue was too small.

Deputy police chief Detlef von Schmeling said the victims, aged between 20 and 40, died as they scrambled to escape from a crush in a narrow, overcrowded tunnel that served as the only entrance to the festival grounds.

"Fourteen people died on the metal steps leading away from the tunnel, two on a wall outside the tunnel," he said.

Police said the dead included seven foreigners, from Australia, Italy, the Netherlands, China, Bosnia and Spain.

Officials said 4,000 police officers and 1,000 security guards were deployed at the event, which organisers said had attracted up to 1.4 million people. Police could not confirm this figure.

More than 340 people were injured in the melee as fresh accounts emerged of the "un-imaginable" scenes that un-folded as thousands who piled into the tunnel became trapped in a bottleneck.

"I saw dead people in the tunnel, others alive but unconscious on the ground." said Anneke Kuypers, an 18-year-old from New Zealand. "Others were crying."

The chief organiser, Rainer Schaller, said the popular event would not be held again, "out of respect for the victims and their families".

Today's edition of the daily Stadt-Anzeiger in the western city of Cologne said that authorities had warned the city's mayor in writing in October 2009 that the grounds were too narrow for the expected crowds but that their concerns went un-heeded.

Survivors described a horrific scene as television pictures showed the unconscious and the dead being passed over the heads of those frantically trying to escape.

Shock turned quickly to anger as partygoers criticised the fact that there was only one way into or out of the festival, through the tunnel.

"The organisation was very bad. Quickly there was nothing to drink apart from alcohol and although the festival was full, they kept letting people in," Patrick Guenter, a 22-year-old baker, said.

"It seems the organisers didn't plan the route. The road was very narrow," added Taggart Bowen-Gaddy, 20, an American from Philadelphia.

"There was no planning, no one knew what was going on."

The chairman of Germany's police union, Rainer Wendt, also attacked the planning, telling mass circulation Bild: "At the end of the day, the city and the organisers are to blame for this tragedy."

"I warned one year ago that Duisburg was not a suitable place for the Love Parade. The city is too small and narrow for such events."

Duisburg Mayor Adolf Sauerland said the investigation had been passed to prosecutors but defended what he said was a "solid security plan" worked out in advance.

Pope Benedict XVI and Chancellor Angela Merkel expressed their horror over the catastrophe, as the German leader called for a "very intensive investigation".

Amid the panic and tragedy came tales of bravery and relief as people tried to help others escape the crush and lost relatives were reunited.

Mr Bowen-Gaddy said that although there was some aggression, "overall, people wanted to help each other. Everyone just wanted to get out."

First held in Berlin in 1989 just months before the fall of the Wall, the Love Parade is one of the biggest techno festivals in Europe, featuring star DJs spinning turntables while large floats move through the crowd.

It left Berlin from 2007 onwards after disagreements with the city authorities over logistics and security and has been held in several other German cities in recent years.