The Beijing Municipal Government will cover the expenses of
medical treatment for the people injured in the Lantern Festival
stampede in suburban Miyun County, according to Wang Chen,
president of Beijing's Chaoyang Hospital.??
The five people seriously injured are now out of danger, and
four of them will be discharged in a few days, Wang said.
Of the 37 people trampled to death during Miyun's Lantern
Festival celebration Thursday evening, 25 were Miyun residents,
eight from Hebei Province, and the other four from Shunyi County of
Beijing and Henan, Anhui and Heilongjiang provinces.
The Beijing Municipal Health Bureau dispatched 42 ambulances and
110 doctors and drivers to the spot immediately after the accident
occurred. The rescue was quick, comprehensive and effective, said
Zhao Yongchun, a doctor at the Beijing First-aid Center.
The first 15 injured people were sent to hospitals Thursday
night. The first to recover -- a father and son from Hebei – were
discharged Saturday.
The accident occurred at 7:45 p.m. Thursday in Mihong Park,
where people were celebrating the Lantern Festival, which falls on
the 15th day of the first Chinese lunar month and is regarded as
the last day of the Spring Festival.
One spectator stumbled on a bridge, resulting in a stampede that
caused many others to fall and be trampled upon. Many suffocated to
death. Doctors rushed to the site right after the crush
occurred.
Chinese President Hu Jintao and Premier Wen Jiabao called for
the utmost efforts to save the injured and urged an investigation
into the accident.
(Xinhua News Agency February 8, 2004)