Six Dead And Dozens Hurt In Nightclub Stampede In Italy theguardian.com

Six people – five of them children – have died and about 35 others have been injured in a stampede of panicked concertgoers in a small town on Italy’s Adriatic coast, authorities have said.

Three girls, two boys and an adult woman, who had accompanied her daughter to the disco in Corinaldo, died at the event on Saturday where an Italian rapper was entertaining the crowd, police chief Oreste Capocasa said in nearby Ancona.

The audience at rapper Sfera Ebbasta’s concert at the Lanterna Azzurra nightclub ran for the exits after someone sprayed a substance similar to pepper spray, said Italian fire officials and ANSA news agency.

Twelve of the 35 injured were in serious condition, Capocasa said.

The ages of the victims weren’t immediately given. It wasn’t immediately clear how many people were inside when the stampede erupted or the club’s maximum capacity.

A teenager told ANSA he discovered that at least one of the emergency exits was locked when he tried to flee. The report said authorities were investigating if the emergency exits were working.

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