Six killed in crush at Italian nightclub

A stampede at a concert in an overcrowded nightclub on Italy’s central Adriatic coast has killed five teenagers and a woman who had accompanied her daughter to the event, police said.

Video taken outside the venue in the town of Corinaldo, near Ancona, showed scores of teenagers rushing out of a door and surging towards a low railing or wall near the exit.

The barrier appeared to give way and a cascade of teenagers tumbled over it, falling on top of each other. The “giving way of two parapets due to the crush of the young people getting out” probably caused the tragedy, interior minister Matteo Salvini said.

The bodies of the victims were found near a low wall close to an exit, firefighters’ spokesman Dino Poggiali said. It is believed that the wall was about 3ft to 5ft high. Overcrowding was also suspected.

“From the initial investigation we have verified that more tickets were sold than the place could hold,” Police Colonel Cristian Corrazza was quoted as saying by Italian news agency Ansa.

Mr Salvini said it was “probably true that there were more people inside than was permissible”.

State radio said about 1,000 people were in the disco at the time.