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A massive rock concert in Guatemala ended with a stampede that killed at least nine people, including two children.
Around 20 other concertgoers were injured from being crushed in the stampede early Thursday as the country celebrated 201 years of independence from Spain.
The music festival, held in the Western city of Quetzaltenango, saw more than 10 bands take the stage right from Wednesday afternoon through the early morning hours of Thursday, according to Reuters.
The annual event celebrating the country’s Independence Day was sponsored by a beer manufacturer and held on a field often used for outdoor events.
Chaos ensued while the Guatemalan rock band, Bohemia Suburbana, closed the show. Concertgoers tried entering and exiting the venue at the same time, leading to some being crushed in the deadly stampede.
Two 12-year-old children are among the nine victims reportedly killed in the incident. Local firefighters said those who were injured in the stampede were taken to the hospital with fractures.
A video shared online showed a pile of people on the ground with some shouting out, according to CBS News. Many were yelling at each other to stop pushing so that those on the ground could be provided assistance.
“Because of the rain there was a lot of mud,” one of the concertgoers, Nancy Quemé, told AP News. “I think because of this the people couldn’t move and they fell.”
Quemé said thousands of people were present at the event, and many families with children were present as the lineup drew to a close early Thursday.
“They closed off the whole area and only left two access (points),” Quemé added. “The entrances seemed really small to me. I stayed pretty far back and decided to leave minutes before the end of the concert.”
Although the event had a permit, the organizers did not have enough security or crowd control management to keep it in check, according to Quetzaltenango city manager Amilcar Rivas.
The city of Quetzaltenango usually witnesses the country’s second-largest independence celebration.
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