Tragedy hits Love Parade

[Mike Stenson (RIP)]

Duisburg - A stampede killed at least 15 people after mass panic broke out in a tunnel at a Love Parade techno music festival in Germany on Saturday.

Overcrowding at the entrance tunnel to a former freight rail station where the event was being held sparked the stampede and then a crush among the mainly young festival-goers.

The festival, which drew about 1.4 million people, was not immediately cancelled because authorities feared that could spark a second panic and more chaos at the crowded venue.

'Everybody wanted to get in'

"There were piles of injured on the ground, some being resuscitated, others dead and covered with sheets," 18-year-old Love Parade participant Isabel Schloesser told Reuters.

"It was way too full in the afternoon, everybody wanted to get in," she said after leaving the rubble-strewn site where echoes of a throbbing bass beat could still be heard more than three hours after the crush.

Rescue work was hampered by the huge crowds attending one of Europe's biggest electronic music events in fine weather, officials said. People had come from all around Europe to the Love Parade with most in the 18-25 age bracket.

Police in the industrial Ruhr city of Duisburg in western Germany had earlier tried to close the tunnel entrance.

"It's a horror situation especially because rescuers cannot get through to those injured," ZDF TV reporter Thomas Muenten said earlier, adding: "The people literally trampled each other on the way into this tunnel."

"To prevent further chaos the event wasn't cancelled. The people are being asked to leave the area quietly," he added.