Like hundreds of thousands of other revelers, 24-year-old Pan Haiqin decided to ring in the new year on Shanghai’s famed riverfront as the skyscrapers flashed and sparkled. But as the crowd grew and then turned into an out-of-control crush of bodies, the real estate professional never made it up the steps to a viewing platform to see the dazzling lights.
Nearly 20 hours later, her parents and friends identified her trampled body in a city morgue, one of 36 people killed in one of the deadliest accidents in this showcase Chinese city. Some 49 others were injured.
With authorities identifying 35 dead victims by name, hundreds of family members mourned the lost, who were mostly young women.
I blame myself for it. I did not protect her
On social media and TV airwaves, many Chinese were asking how such a tragedy could have happened in the heart of the country’s high-profile financial hub.
“I blame myself for it. I did not protect her,” said Pan’s boyfriend, Zhao Weiwei, his eyes welling with tears. “She was a cheerful woman who worked so hard in this city.”
Shanghai is known for a better-oiled municipal government than most other Chinese cities, with its leaders supposedly savvier in managing traffic and crowds.
But the tragedy has exposed gaping vulnerabilities in the city’s preparedness and emergency response system. Authorities were still investigating the cause of the stampede, but street vendors, residents, taxi drivers and other witnesses say the city failed to prepare for the massive turnout Wednesday night. Officials may not have expected such large numbers in the riverfront area called the Bund after they cancelled a much-hyped midnight light show and hosted a toned-down version at another location.
Zhao said the crowd descending from the platform crashed into him and his girlfriend and others at the bottom of the 17 steps as they were trying to inch up.
“We were holding hands then, but no way could we resist the force coming down,” he said. “We were separated, and people fell down backward with their faces up, piling on each other. When we were able to pull them out, many were already unconscious.”
Grieving family members and friends say they were kept in the dark about rescue efforts and post-mortem arrangements.
They said they had yet to meet or talk with senior city officials. Yesterday, many were forced inside a district government compound, with reporters kept out.
“We are basically placed under house arrest,” Cai Jinjin, whose cousin Qi Xiaoyan was killed in the stampede, said before an Associated Press reporter was asked by Shanghai police to leave the compound.
During light shows in previous years, city and military police tightly controlled foot and car traffic on the riverfront. But on Wednesday night, the hundreds of thousands who showed up were allowed mostly to move freely.
“On major holidays, the viewing platform is always restricted – which is known to us all, but this time it was completely open,” said a riverfront resident who declined to give his name for fear of reprisal.