This Article is From Nov 04, 2012

Spain party stampede toll rises to four

Madrid: A 17-year-old girl, who was admitted to hospital in critical condition after being crushed at a giant Halloween party in the Spanish capital, died on Saturday, authorities said. The stampede toll has now risen to four.

According to the officials, the death occurred at 8.50 am.

The teen's parents, who were on a trip to Brazil when the tragedy occurred, rushed to the hospital on Friday afternoon after landing at Madrid's Barajas airport.

The girl's death raised to four the number of fatalities in the Halloween tragedy.

The others were three 18-year-olds, who were also crushed to death in the human stampede in a corridor at the Madrid Arena.

Another young woman aged 20 who was injured at the party remains hospitalized in serious but stable condition.

Spanish police are investigating videos taken by security cameras in a corridor of the Madrid Arena in an attempt to confirm the hypothesis that the stampede occurred when lighted firecrackers and a flare supposedly panicked a crowd when it was thrown among them in a packed corridor between the arena's track and a stairway to an upper level.

The incident sparked controversy about whether the crowd was above the arena's legally permitted capacity, a possibility denied by Divertt S.L., the company that rented the facility, but which has been questioned by some who attended the Halloween party.

The Spanish government will closely follow the investigation into the tragedy, Deputy Prime Minister Soraya Saenz de Santamaria said on Friday, expressing condolences to the victims' families.

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