简体中文
Some 200 Juventus fans were injured on Saturday in a stampede in Turin, northern Italy, when they were watching the Champions League final between Juventus and Real Madrid after mistaking firecrackers for an explosion or gunshots, reported AFP.
The chaotic scenes at San Carlo Piazza were caused by fireworks that were set off just 10 minutes before the end of the match, followed by one or more people shouting that a bomb had gone off, according to AFP.
The incident compounded a miserable night for supporters of Juventus, which lost the Champions League Final 1-4 to Real Madrid.
Thousands of people had gathered in San Carlo Piazza to watch the match on giant TV screens. After some reported hearing a loud sound, explosion or a gunshot, hundreds ran from the square center, according to Associated Press reporter Brian Hendrie, who was in the square.
Within minutes, the square was evacuated so quickly it was left strewn with sneakers ripped off people's feet as they ran.
"The root cause of this was panic, to understand what triggered it we will have to wait a while," said top local official Renato Saccone, the prefect of Turin.
Police said some 200 people had needed hospital treatment, with two of them in a serious condition. Some injuries occurred after a railing around the entrance to an underground parking lot beneath the square gave way under the weight of the crush.
Local media cited older Juventus fans present as saying the panic had evoked painful memories of the 1985 Heysel disaster in which 39 mostly Italian fans died when fans were crushed by a collapsing wall before the start of that year's European Cup final, against Liverpool.
(AFP)
