“It was like Heysel all over again”: 1400 hospitalized in Turin stampede
Seven - including a four-year-old child - are in critical conditions after the incident, which took place in San Carlo square, where Juventus fans had congregated in their thousands.
The incident occurred with ten minutes to go in yesterday’s Champions League final, in which local team Juventus lost 4-1 to Real Madrid.
As Calciomercato reporter Andrea Menon writes, at around 22.10 he noticed people running away from the square. It quickly turned into an avalanche, with fans running in every direction.
While the police claim that a firecracker was the cause, there are also reports that a fake bomb threat may have triggered the stampede, or that a barrier had fallen.
The scene was reminiscent of a war film, or even of the Heysel Stadium disaster. Barriers came crashing down, people were caught in the crush and debris were left everywhere, including glass bottles and shoes.