Three young women, aged between 18 and 25, have died and two more are in a critical condition after being crushed in a crowd at the Arena House in Madrid, during a Halloween party featuring some of Europe’s best known DJ’s.
It first appeared that the tragedy occurred after someone threw a flare into the crowd, causing panic and the ensuing crush. The venue has a capacity of about 10,000, although it is unknown how many were present at the time of the incident.
The National Police are conducting an investigation into the full circumstances, but as yet have not arrested anyone. There is also a suggestion that only one exit door was available during the stampede to leave the premises.
The initial calls to police were around 4.30am saying that there had been a crowd stampede at the Arena although the Ambulance Service had received several calls at around 4am. The entire building was evacuated when Police and medical staff attended the scene but despite half an hour of resuscitation, they declared two of the women dead at the scene. They continued to work on a third all the way to hospital, but she to succumbed and died a short time after arrival.
The initial cause of death was given by the medical staff as cardiac arrest, however, they did qualify this by saying that all the cardiac arrests were the result of crush injuries.
The National Police investigation continues.
Update: Since this article was originally published there have been several developments.
The investigative judge has indicted Miguel Ángel Flores, who is the owner of event-organizing company, Diviertt. This was followed by another indictment, this time of Pedro Calvo, who is the Councillor for Economía and in charge of the, Espacio y Congresos department; the one responsible for hiring out municipally owned venues, such as Arena House.
Accusations are rebounding between the two security companies involved, the Policía Local, the event organizers and the City Hall and to date, nobody is taking responsibility for what occurred inside the hall. For instance, the event organizers say that at least 4,000 people were taking part in several street parties in front of the hall, who then gatecrashed the event, meaning that there was a control failure outside the hall; hence criticism of the Policía Local.
According to the defence lawyer of Miguel Ángel Flores, there could have been over 15,000 people inside at one point.
With all this going on there are calls not only from the opposition parties within the the city of Madrid for resignations, but also from the Head of the Comunidad de Madrid (the regional government) for thorough investigations, caiga quien caiga (no matter whose heads should roll) clearly indicating the Mayor of Madrid, Ana Botella (wife of ex-PM José María Aznar). Mayor Ana Botella attracted huge criticism for going on holiday to Portugal virtually the day after the tragedy, which hasn’t helped her defence against calls for her resignation.
(news, madrid, halloween, arena)