Three Fans Crushed to Death at Steve Aoki Show in Spain

Published Nov 01, 2012

A Halloween party turned tragic last night (October 31) when three women were crushed to death at a show headlined by Steve Aoki in Madrid. A report from Spain's El Pais [via Spin ] states that the concertgoers were caught in the middle of a crowd crush at the Madrid Arena, which was hosting the Thriller Music Park event featuring Aoki and Autoerotique, among other acts.Around 4 a.m. local time, a team of approximately 50 paramedics were brought in to attend to two of the victims, who were unconscious and had both suffered cardiac arrest. After 30 minutes of attempted resuscitation, the two women were pronounced dead at the scene. A third woman reportedly died shortly after arriving at the hospital.Another two concertgoers are in critical condition, after having experienced "trauma by crushing, possibly having suffered a fall and being trampled."Police are investigating the incident, which reportedly may have involved a flare being lit off in the crowd, causing panic. The crowd crush apparently did not happen on the floor of the arena, but rather a lower floor that connected to the main level."There was a human bottleneck at the only exit, because all the others were closed, sealed," one attendee told. "There were people crying, crushed; security personnel dragging away those that were trapped."The official capacity of Madrid Arena is 12,000, with the event having been authorized to bring in 10,600. Attendees had been tweeting that the venue was overcapacity, with one concertgoer estimating 20,000 were in the venue.While panic had taken over one area of the arena, witnesses said other exits had been open. According to police sources, the building was evacuated by 6:50 a.m. local time, nearly three hours after the incident.