Week 3 - 上海跨年踩踏致死

Shanghai new year crush kills 36

1 January 2015

A crush at New Year's Eve celebrations in Shanghai has killed 36 people and injured some 47 others, Chinese officials say.

The crush happened in Chenyi Square in Shanghai's historic Bund district overlooking the Huangpu river.

Thousands of people had gathered to see in 2015.

Social media reports suggest the stampede was triggered by people stopping to pick up fake money thrown from the balcony of a nightclub.

The Shanghai City government said the situation began to deteriorate at 23:35 local time (15:35 GMT) and that a "working group" had been set up to handle the incident.

Many of the dead are believed to be students, with 25 of them women, state media report.

President Xi Jinping has told the Shanghai government to find the causes of the crush as soon as possible, according to state TV.

A traditional new year fireworks display on the Bund had already been cancelled due to official fears of overcrowding, the Shanghai Daily reports.

The BBC's John Sudworth in Shanghai says the investigation may focus on why so many people turned out despite the cancellation and whether there were enough police resources in place to look after them.

'Too many people'

English tourist Rebecca Thomas from Manchester told the BBC she had seen dead bodies on the ground.

Another Sino Weibo user, Small Metal Makes Steel, said: "At the time there were lots of people, police at the scene maintained order and wouldn't let people near [the scene of the injuries]."

"Lots of people spontaneously linked hands to block the crowds, so the injured had space to settle down, and to allow a clear passage for ambulances," he added.

In a statement, the Shanghai City government said that those hurt had been transferred to hospitals across the city, and that the Shanghai party secretary had visited some of the injured.

Earlier, Shanghai's police department wrote on its verified social media account that some "tourists" had "fallen over" at the Bund, and urged people to leave the area in an orderly fashion.

According to the Shanghai Daily, close to 300,000 people turned up for New Year's Eve celebrations last year, leading to traffic problems.

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-30646918

Structure of Lead :

Who - 83 people from all over the world 

When - December 31th in 2014

Where - Shanghai's historic Bund District

What - A crush at New Year's Eve celebrations in Shanghai has killed 36 people and injured some 47 others.

Why - Because thousands of people had gathered to see in 2015 New Year's Eve celebrations, it caused the incident of trampling

How - Not given

Keywords:

1. overlook 俯瞰

2. stampede 使亂擁 蜂擁

3. trigger 引起 觸發

4. deteriorate 使惡化 

5. overcrowd 使過度擁擠

6. spontaneously 自發地

7. settle down 安頓下來

8. party 政黨