The provincial court here on Tuesday handed out 15 prison sentences for those considered responsible for the 2012 tragedy in the Madrid Arena.

Five young women were crushed to death in a stampede at a Halloween night concert in the tragedy.

The women, who were aged between 17 and 20 years old, died after a flare was set off during a DJ set, causing panic and leaving them and many others trapped in a narrow passageway in the venue.

Event promoter Miguel Angel Flores was found guilty of five counts of negligent homicide over the deaths and 29 counts of causing harm by serious negligence when it was revealed his company Diviertt had sold 16,492 tickets even though the capacity of the Madrid Arena was just 10,620.

Poor security measures and the fact that five out of eight access points to the main stage were blocked were also named as contributing factors to the deaths, with 14 other defendants also handed prison terms ranging up to four years.

Among those sent to jail were Francisco del Amo, the coordinator of operations and projects for Madridec, which is the municipal company which manages the Madrid Arena, and Carlos Manzanares, who worked for Kontrol 34, the company in charge of the venue.

The medical staff and police on duty at the event were cleared of any wrongdoing.

The families of the victims will each receive compensation of around 350,000 euros (around 392,500 U.S. dollars) for their loss.

No former members of the Madrid local authority had to face charges for the tragedy, although it did harm former Madrid Mayor Ana Botella, who failed to cut short a visit to a health spa where she was staying when the incident happened. Endit

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