China orders safety review after deadly Shanghai stampede

China demanded a review of crowd-safety procedures as dozens of people remain in Shanghai's hospitals after a deadly stampede on New Year's Eve killed 36 and caused the cancellation of celebrations across the city.

At least 49 people were injured, including 31 still serious enough to require hospitalization, the Shanghai government said on its website. The stampede -- the city's deadliest disaster since 2010 -- started about 11:35 p.m. as tens of thousands of people crowded into the historic Bund riverside district for a light show.

Chinese President Xi Jinping ordered an investigation and told local governments to prioritize safety ahead of the mass celebrations for the Lunar New Year holidays next month. The China National Tourism Administration issued an emergency notice last night requiring its local offices to establish procedures to control crowd flows at tourist spots.

While Shanghai authorities said they were still investigating the cause of the accident, eyewitnesses and family members of those injured described scenes where people were impeding the flow of traffic trying to escape the crowds, while others fell on top of each other at a pedestrian platform along the river. Pictures of the crowd that were posted on social media showed people that night packed tightly together in the Bund's Chen Yi Square, where the incident occurred.

"This is a completely avoidable incident, as using today's Internet and Big Data technologies early warning mechanisms are completely feasible," said Yi Peng, an urbanization researcher at Pangoal, a Beijing-based public policy research institute. "Doesn't everyone in the area have a cell phone? Warnings could have been sent through Weibo, WeChat and all kinds of ways to avoid such a tragedy."

Two days after the stampede in the metropolis of 23 million, families and friends of those injured remained at hospitals after spending a frantic day yesterday seeking news in the aftermath of the accident.

At Shanghai's Changzheng Hospital, about 2.4 kilometers from the Bund, Tan Xiuyuan, a mother whose 23-year-old son nicknamed Lei Lei was injured in the melee, said today her son described a chaotic scene on the night of the stampede.

"He said a lot of people were walking in different directions and that led to trampling," Tan said. "My son has breathing problems caused by suffocation and needs to stay in the observation room."

The government blocked off an area at the Bund for people to lay down flowers to mourn for those who died in the tragedy. It also made available a team of experts to provide psychological help to victims and families, according to information on its website and microblog.

The reason for the accident was still under investigation, according to staff at the Shanghai government media office who asked not to be named. Four of the dead have yet to be identified, the person said. Two-thirds of the fatalities were female, according to a name list posted by the government today. Ages of the deceased ranged from 12 to 37, the list showed. Shanghai party secretary Han Zheng said yesterday the municipality would review the planning of large events, especially those in densely crowded places. "My friend got her arm broken in the stampede," Lu Ying, a 21-year-old restaurant worker who was at Shanghai No.1 People's Hospital, the largest near the Bund, said today. Liu, who declined to provide the name of her friend, said the two were separated by the massive crowds.

At least three New Year's events were canceled yesterday, including a 3kilometer "charity" run and a light show scheduled for the city's downtown area, according to the websites of the Xinmin Evening News and the Shanghai government.

Shanghai officials had earlier canceled a public countdown event in the Bund area along the Huangpu River, according to a Dec. 31 Shanghai Morning Post report. A Malaysian national was among those killed, the country's Ministry of Foreign Affairs said. The victim was a university student, and efforts are under way to contact relatives, according to a statement from the ministry that didn't identify the person. The dead, many of whom were students, included one Taiwanese, CCTV said on Twitter.