Stampede in Baghdad: 648 dead

[dotcoma]

http://edition.cnn.com/2005/WORLD/me...ain/index.html

BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- At least 648 people were killed and 322 others injured in a stampede on a Baghdad bridge after a massive Shiite religious commemoration erupted into panic Wednesday.

Most of those killed were women and children, police sources said.

Witnesses said the stampede started after someone screamed that a suicide bomber was in the crowd of pilgrims heading to the Kadhimiya mosque in northern Baghdad.

A railing on the bridge then collapsed under the crush of people, and hundreds fell to their deaths in the Tigris River about 30 meters (yards) below, CNN's Jennifer Eccleston reported.

According to police, some people were crushed to death but most drowned. Emergency crews rushed the wounded to five hospitals as relatives at the riverbank searched for their kin.

The stampede occurred at about 11:30 a.m. (3:30 a.m. EDT) near the mosque, where pilgrims were gathered to commemorate the martyrdom of Imam Moussa al-Khadhem, a prominent figure in Shiite history.

[Chris]

oh dear...

[SteveA]

Sad state of affairs we're living in today.

[Sonart]

You can amend the story already from Dotcoma's CNN link...

BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- "At least 841 people were killed and 323 others injured in a stampede on a Baghdad bridge after a massive Shiite religious commemoration erupted into panic Wednesday."

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[Athena]

How sad. The religious/political differences between Muslims have existed for hundreds of years, and democracy would put an end of these differences, but guns do not spread democracy. Only education can do that, and the Muslims have valued education. Unfortunately, the US president is not a wise man, and those who follow him also lack wisdom. As populations around the world create intense pressure on every aspect of our lives, we need Apollo. Those who are suffering need our prays, regardless of what we belief of God.

[Jack]

Once again religion and fear team up to take human lives. So sad.
If they hadn't been religious, there wouldn't have been the crowd in the first place. If the world weren't living under such a cloud of fear, the supposed sighting of a suicide bomber may not have lead to such a massive stampede.

[Chris]

link

Shiite reaction to tragedy could be bloody
Long-suffering majority has grown weary of Sunni oppression
Shiite religious commemorations are usually filled with religious fervour, wailing and blood-soaked shirts caused by ritual self-flagellation. But yesterday the agony of Iraq's Shiites was all too real.

As many as 1,000 pilgrims died in a stampede on a bridge leading to the Kadhimiya mosque.

The crucial question being asked in Baghdad, Washington and London is whether the Shiites will regard the carnage as yet another tragedy in their history of suffering or as an appalling provocation by Sunni insurgents that tips Iraq into a sectarian civil war.

[monty of ll]

http://www.voanews.com/english/2005-09-01-voa3.cfm

"Footage of the bridge from an American reconnaissance plane also shows no activity consistent with the reports of mass panic and deaths. The only confirmed incident on Wednesday in Kadhimiya was an early morning mortar and rocket attack, targeting the Shi'ite shrine where an estimated one million Shi'ites from around the country had gathered by day's end."

"VOA visited the nearby Kadhimiya Hospital and found eight bodies and 33 civilians being treated for wounds."