20000326

13 children die

in S African disco stampede

DURBAN: Thirteen school children died and five were seriously injured in a stampede in a crowded discotheque in South Africa's east coast city of Durban on Friday, police said.

The stampede was apparently caused when a canister of teargas was released in the early afternoon in the Throb nightclub Ñ packed with about 600 pupils celebrating the end of the school term, police spokesman Bala Naidoo told AFP.

The dead were aged between 11 and 16, he said.

Eleven children were killed at the club, in the Chatsworth suburb, a mainly Indian residential area. One was dead on arrival at hospital and another died hours later in hospital, police said.

Five critically injured children were admitted to hospital, Naidoo said.

About 100 angry people gathered outside the club on Friday and threatened to burn it down, SAPA news agency said. The police and army were called to control the crowd.

People, some of them hysterical and screaming, also gathered at the Chatsworth police station as the identities of the dead children were released.

A brick wall apparently collapsed during the stampede, crushing some of the children, Naidoo told AFP. It was unclear how the teargas was released, police said.

An 18-year-old survivor, who would only give his name as Adhir, told SAPA that he and others had scrambled for the exit after their eyes and faces had started burning.

"I was running for my life," he said. "I trampled on a girl who fell down, but there was nothing I could do".

Rescue officials said that about 45 children were injured, mainly suffering from abrasions, respiratory problems and head injuries.

Twelve of them were seriously hurt and another five were in critical condition, they said.

A 15-year-old girl was dead on arrival at the R K Khan hospital, Superintendent Prakash Subban told AFP. The hospital was treating 38 other children, he said.

"Four are critical Ñ they have lacerations fractures and chest problems. "Some of the others have limbs fractured, lacerations and respiratory problems, but they are stable. One or two may have to be admitted, but the others will probably go home," he said.

Victims were also treated at the Chatsmad Garden hospital.

Police initially believed the deaths were caused by poisonous gas.ÑAFP