Five nightclubbers and mom killed in stampede
HEAVY battles raged on Friday between Us-backed Kurdish Syrian fighters and Islamic State militants in the terrorist group’s last pocket in eastern Syria.
In recent months, the oil-rich province of Deir al-zour in eastern Syria has seen clashes between the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), a Kurdish-led group allied with the US, and Islamic State extremists.
“Our fighters managed to take the neighbourhood of Hawma, one of the first districts of Hajeen,” SDF spokesperson Ahmed Mohammed said. Hajeen is the biggest section of the Islamic State’s last pocket in eastern Syria. | SIX people, including five teenagers, were crushed to death yesterday in a stampede at a packed nightclub near Ancona on Italy’s Adriatic coast, officials said.
The deaths occurred when a walkway leading out of the Lanterna Azzurra nightclub in the town of Corinaldo collapsed, causing dozens of people to fall into a trench below.
Three girls, two boys and a mother who had accompanied her child to the event, died in the crush. Police said the teenagers were aged between 14 and 16, while the dead woman was 39. More than 100 other people were injured, 13 of them seriously, officials said. The local fire brigade said someone might have sprayed pepper spray into the crowd, triggering a panicked rush to the emergency exits.
Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini said early indications suggested that the club was overcrowded. Popular Italian rapper, Sfera Ebbasta, had been due to perform.
“People cannot die like this,” Salvini said. “We will find those responsible for these six broken lives, those who out of malice, stupidity or greed have turned a party night into a tragedy,” he said. |