One person has been taken out of critical condition
and all the other injured from a stampede in a Carrefour outlet in
southwest China are recovering well, officials said Sunday.
Three people have been discharged from the hospital after
receiving medical treatment, according to an official of the
Shapingba district government of Chongqing Municipality. The stampede took
place early on Saturday morning when the Carrefour outlet in
Shapingba was holding a sales promotion activity. Hordes of people
stormed into the store's entrance when the shop opened,
causing a stampede.
Three people were killed and 31 others were injured in the
accident.
The outlet has suspended business as ordered and is under
investigated. The shop will not be reopened until a thorough
investigation into the stampede has been completed
and measures to improve conditions are enacted, according to
the official.
Carrefour's representative in China arrived in Chongqing on
Sunday to meet and cooperate with the local government regarding an
investigation into the accident and compensation for the
victims.
A three-day promotion at the outlet in the Shapingba District
was launched on Friday to celebrate the 10th anniversary of
Carrefour's presence in the city.
People began queuing at the entrance around 4:00 AM Saturday,
waiting to buy a cooking oil product offered at a big discount,
said Gao Chang, spokesman for the government of Shapingba
District.
The shop offered a deduction of 11.5 yuan (US$1.5) from the
original price of 51.4 yuan (US$6.9) for a bottle of five-liter
oil.
At around 8:40 AM when the shop started its business, throngs of
people burst in and a mass stampede occurred.
He Yu, one of the shoppers combating for the cooking oil, got
his face and hands bruised in the stampede.
"I rushed to the oil shelf with other people and grabbed four
bottles. Suddenly I tripped and stumbled on the floor. Luckily I
got hold of another person and escaped from being crashed," the
young man said.
The Shapingba outlet, covering a business area of 7,000 square
meters, opened in May of last year. It is the fourth Carrefour
outlet in Chongqing, and the 75th in China.
(Xinhua News Agency November 12, 2007)