29 women and children killed in mosque stampede

[WhiteTara]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/pakistan/Story/0,,1750666,00.html
Declan Walsh in Islamabad
Monday April 10, 2006
The Guardian
A stampede after an Islamic ceremony killed at least 29 women and children and left more than 100 injured in the southern Pakistani city of Karachi yesterday. About 10,000 women had gathered in the Faizan-e-Madina mosque to hear sermons about the prophet Muhammad, whose birthday is celebrated tomorrow.

As the ceremony ended a small girl fell to the ground, crying for help and triggering a wave of panic that caused thousands to rush for the exit. Witnesses described chaotic scenes as hundreds of women crushed against one another. Some fell to the ground and were trampled underfoot; others suffocated.

"All of a sudden there were screams and shouts. Everyone ran for safety and we did too," Haleema Bibi told Reuters. "It was absolute mayhem. Nobody knew what was happening," another said.

Other witnesses blamed a woman who tried to pluck the fallen girl from the ground, causing those behind her to fall. "When the woman stopped there was a wave of people who stepped over us," a woman identifying herself as Zaibunisa told the Associated Press from her hospital bed.
snip
Stampedes are rare at Islamic events in Pakistan but frequently blight the annual Hajj pilgrimage to Saudi Arabia. More than 360 people died near Mecca last January while almost 1,500 died in a Hajj stampede in 1990. Seven people died in a Pakistani mosque stampede in March 2003.

[Karmakaze]

1. Blamed a woman who tried to save the kid???

What about blaming the 9900 other idiots who stampeded for no effing reason?

[annabanana]

3. Scared people are the most dangerous thing on the planet..

You can't really call them idiots for trying to get away from what they thought was a threat. The bombing of mosques in Iraq in sectarian attacks makes their fear at least understandable, if not plausible....

[TheMadMonk]

4. The key word in the OP is "BLAMED"

Essentially: If that woman hadn't stopped to help the kid and thus tripped up a whole lot more people, everyone would have been fine. Except of course for that one kid. Save your arse. Trample kids. Great philosophy. (And no I'm not ascribing that philosophy to you personally.)



Short of outsized events such as Hiroshima, Nagasaki or Dresden. Reactions to a percieved threat all too often cause far, far more damage than the threat itself could possibly cause.

Come on, we're supposed to be rational beings. Irrational behaviour is virtually always ultimately idiotic behaviour. Whether it is going along with the kidanppers, or gutting an essential inteligence asset out of pure pique.


Unfortunatly collective IQ IS inversely proportional to crowd size, so if you ever do hear someone yell "BOMB!" then unless you can see the burning fuse (literaly or figuratively), probably your safest option is to find a corner, hunker down and wait for a clear run at the door. Esp. if you are small, weak or infirm.

[salin]

2. tragic

what a sad story.