Crowds mourn stampede victims

Residents lay flowers at the site of a deadly stampede in Shanghai on Thursda y. At least 36 people died in the incident, the worst disaster in the metropolis in recent years, which occurred during New Year celebrations in the municipality's downtown.[Photo/Agencies]

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Visitors, relatives pay respects to those who died in New Year's Eve Shanghai tragedy

Residents arrived at the Bund, a stretch of river bank on the west side of the Huangpu River in Shanghai, on Thursday to mourn and pray for the 36 people that died in a stampede on New Year's Eve.

Seven people with minor injuries have been discharged from hospital, but 40 are still being treated in local hospitals. Thirteen of them have serious injuries, according to the municipal government.

By late afternoon, two rows of flowers had been placed in front of a statue of Chen Yi, who became the mayor of Shanghai in 1949. The stampede happened at Chen Yi Square at around 11:35 pm on Dec 31, where an estimated 300,000 people had gathered on the Bund, Shanghai's most popular tourist attraction, to celebrate the upcoming year.

"I'm shocked," said a woman who gave her surname as Weng, laying a bouquet of flowers." Shanghai is an orderly city and viewed as more civilized than other cities in China. Although I didn't know anyone who died or was injured, I'm here to offer my condolences."

Police said the cause of the incident is being investigated, but admitted that the number of officers deployed to cope with the crowds was lower than for 2014's National Day, an equally important date that usually lures a huge number of visitors.

"There were no (celebration) activities yesterday, so we didn't dispatch as many officers as on last year's National Day," said Cai Lixin, a senior officer at Shanghai Public Security Bureau's Huangpu branch.