Varsity crush kills mom
Many hurt in frenzied scramble for places
AWOMAN died and 16 people were injured, one seriously, in a stampede of desperate matriculants trying to get on to the University of Johannesburg campus this morning to apply for the last few hundred student positions.
Many required medical attention after being stuck in the crush.
The situation was unclear as police, security officers and university authorities battled to control the situation.
A woman, believed to be the mother of one of the late applicants, was killed in the stampede and her body was left lying at the university’s entrance as police and paramedics tried to get onto campus.
Her identity and details of her death could not be confirmed by the time of going to print.
Her family or friends who were with her were taken away from the scene by authorities. Her body was removed in a mortuary van.
Yesterday the university opened the late-applications process at its Auckland Park campus, and took about 10 000 applications in just one day. Officials expected to get about the same number every day this week.
There are only about 800 possible positions still open.
Police officer Pinky Tsinyane confirmed that one person died and 16 people were injured.
Netcare spokesman Jeff Wicks said his teams took eight people to hospital. One woman was fighting for her life in hospital.
An ambulance and fire truck had been brought in to treat many students who had fainted in the early- morning heat and cramped conditions, and police struggled to control an increasingly angry crowd.
Thousands of desperate hopeful matriculants gathered in Annet Road outside the campus, queueing for hours. They are all trying to put in late applications.
Many did not apply before because they did not understand the university application deadlines, did not know what to study, or did not know whether they would achieve a university pass until the matric results were released last week.
Yesterday prospective students were turned away when the gates closed in the early afternoon.
Some camped overnight at the gates, hoping to be first in today’s queue.
This morning the crowd became increasingly impatient for the gates to open. By 7.30am the masses had broken down the Bunting Road entrance gate.
Police tried to form them into orderly queues, but the stress of waiting led to the youngsters eventually breaking down the gate and rushing onto the campus grounds.
Applicants’ anger rose as those who had spent the night on the street outside were pushed out of their places at the front of the line by newcomers.
“People are sick and tired of waiting. Pushing in front is not fair to us,” said one female applicant who had been waiting since 5am yesterday, when the queue for the weeklong late-application process began.
The young woman said she was afraid to give her name because it may affect her chances.
It was this desperation for tertiary education that led to the furious rush that left one woman dead.
The crowd’s irritation reached tipping point as police tried to order them towards one of the smaller side gates, which led to one student trying to climb over the main gate as the crowd pushed towards it.
This set off a chain reaction of climbers, which eventually caused the remaining hundreds to start pushing the main gate, eventually forcing it open. University security guards and metro police were un- able to stop them.
Another middle-aged woman was knocked over as the crowd rushed in, with hundreds of students trampling her.
While she appeared conscious shortly afterwards, paramedics at the scene began treating the wounds to her mouth and head, bringing her oxygen before she was rushed off to a nearby hospital.
A third woman was taken to hospital, apparently with neck injuries.
The university was unable to give a statement about the two victims of the stampede, but several university employees said that the late-application process would be cancelled.
Students were asked to leave campus after they were separated from the large crowd.
There are only 11 000 first-year undergraduate places at UJ and the university has already provisionally accepted 17 000, subject to their matric results and space.
The university processed close to 85 300 applications in 2011 for studies at UJ for 2012, compared to 65 665 in 2010 for the 2011 intake.