MADRID: An initial Spanish police report blames overcrowding for a crush that killed four young women in a huge Halloween rave in Madrid, a court official said Wednesday.
Drunken party-goers without tickets who stormed the event may be to blame for the November 1 disaster in the Madrid Arena, which has a capacity for a maximum 10,500 people, said an official who asked not to be named.
"The police report in the hands of the court specifies that the capacity was greatly exceeded," said the official at the court, which is in the initial stage of an investigation.
"The police report notes as a possible cause of the events that, just before the fatal outcome, an undetermined but very large number of people who had been drinking jumped over the turnstiles without any tickets, storming the grounds just as the act was starting for the evening's star DJ."
Three women aged between 18 and 20 died on the day of the crush and another seriously injured 17-year-old girl died in hospital two days later on November 3.
Partygoers piled on top of each other as they squeezed into a corridor, many wailing and fainting as they fought for space, according to witnesses and disturbing amateur videos and photographs.
American DJ Steve Aoki was the star attraction at the electronic music party, which included a costume contest based on Michael Jackson's "Thriller" video.
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