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Crowds gather at The Bund on the night of the stampede. Photo: SCMP Pictures
An inquiry into the New Year’s Eve stampede on the riverfront in Shanghai has recommended that four senior district government officials in the city be sacked.
The Shanghai municipal government report, released on Wednesday morning, criticised Huangpu district officials for failures in risk assessment, public communication, crowd control preparation and monitoring, as well as their response in dealing with the disaster.
The inquiry recommended sacking the Communist Party head of the Huangpu area Zhou Wei, district government chief Peng Song, deputy district chief Zhou Zheng and the district police chief Chen Qi.
A final decision on whether the officials will be fired will be taken by higher authorities in the Communist Party.
Watch: China sacks four officials over Shanghai stampede
Thousands of people had crammed on to the riverfront to watch a New Year’s Eve light show.
Thirty-six people were killed and 49 were injured. Most of those who died were in their 20s.
Officials in Shanghai have been strongly criticised for the lack of police and crowd control on the Bund on New Year’s Eve.
The anti-corruption authority in Shanghai also said it would be punishing officials for using public funds to pay for a luxury meal at a restaurant minutes before the stampede happened.
This was in breach of guidelines curbing extravagant spending, the authorities said.
They include Huangpu party chief Zhou and five other district officials.
A big New Year’s Eve lights show is regularly held on the riverfront in Shanghai, but this year the venue was changed.
The inquiry said the public were only informed by the district tourism department about the altered venue on December 30, so thousands turned up thinking the event would be held as normal.
The report also said the district’s police did not carry out a risk assessment for the New Year’s Eve countdown and only deployed 350 officers, 100 paramilitary police and 108 auxiliary officers for crowd control on the Bund.
At the raised platform staircase in Chen Yi Square, where the stampede took place, only seven policemen were stationed.
The report said that even when people started flocking to the riverside from 8pm, Huangpu police did not report crowd numbers every half hour to the city police headquarters as required.
It also failed to ask headquarters for reinforcements.
Vice-mayor Zhou Bo formally apologised to the public, the victims of the stampede and their families.
The inquiry recommended the city government improve safety management in crowded public spaces or at big events, that increased crowd control monitoring be introduced and that the authorities strengthen their emergency response system.
It also called for more information to be given to educate people in the city about public safety.
Questions have mounted over how such a tragedy could have occurred in the mainland's wealthiest and best-managed city.
Shanghai's historic Bund riverfront runs along an area of narrow streets amid restored old buildings, shops and tourist attractions.
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TIMELINE: Shanghai stampede
December 31
8pm People start to gather in The Bund area, China News Service reports, citing the Huangpu district police commander.
11.30pm A witness hears women and children scream as people are crushed together near Chen Yi Square, and unease starts to spread through the crowd, according to the Southern Metropolis News.
Police spot unusual pedestrian movements near the square. They detect that “people have stopped moving” and dispatch 500 officers to the scene, China News Service reports, citing the Huangpu district police commander.
The first police officers arrive on the scene in “five to eight minutes”, Eastday.com quotes a police officer as saying.
11.34pm A witness sees several people fall on a staircase near the square. where the stampede took place. People nearby try to pull them up but fail as more pedestrians crowd the steps. The situation gets out of control and those on the ground are further pressed together, according to the Southern Metropolis News website, Nandu.com.
11.35pm The stampede occurs, according to the official account.
11.40pm Several pedestrians near the stairs shout “Back! Back!”, trying to stop more people flooding in, the Southern Metropolis News Nandu.com reports, citing a witness.
11.50pm A witness sees “fake money” that had been thrown from a building across the road, Eastday.com reports. The notes turn out to be bar coupons.
11.55pm The crowd starts to calm down. People help move the injured. out of the stampede area. Some pedestrians try to resuscitate the start to do cardiopulmonary resuscitation on the injured while others clear a way for ambulances, Sina.com reports.
January 1
12.31am The Shanghai Public Security Bureau’s official microblog says police officers are evacuating pedestrians after some people fell in The Bund area.
3am Shanghai party chief Han Zheng visits the injured at the Shanghai No1 People’s Hospital, China News Service reports.
4.01am Shanghai government’s microblog announces that 35 people were killed and 42 injured in the stampede. Later updated to 36 dead and 47 hurt.
Government officials silent over compensation for victims of the Shanghai stampede disaster
Officials ignore shouted questions about the issue during a briefing into the causes of the New Year’s Eve crush on the city's riverfront that killed 36 people
A man lays flowers at the scene of the disaster. Officials have defended the decision to punish only lower-level cadres for negligence. Photo: AP
Relatives of the 36 people who died in the New Year’s Eve stampede in Shanghai have still yet to hear if they will receive compensation after the disaster.
The issue was not raised during a press conference into the causes of the fatal crush on the city’s riverfront and officials did not reply when journalists pressed them on the matter.
“You didn’t answer questions about compensation,” several reporters shouted at the end of the press briefing on Wednesday. Officials sitting on the platform walked away without responding.
Wang Yu, the deputy director of Shanghai’s supervision bureau, defended at another meeting the decision to punish only district level officials for negligence.
The inquiry into the disaster has recommended that four officials in the Huangpu district be sacked.
Wang said cadres in Huangpu bore the main blame for the poor policing and crowd control on the Bund on New Year’s Eve when thousands packed onto the riverfront to watch a lights show.
“The joint investigation team found that it was the Huangpu district government that was mainly responsible for the incident, while municipal government departments were found in dereliction of their duties to guide and supervise,” said Wang.
Han Zheng, Shanghai’s Communist Party chief, said the city had learned a lesson in blood from the disaster and he was full of sorrow.
Liu Ping, the deputy director of the municipal government’s law department, also denied rumours that the city authorities had officially categorised the disaster as an “incident” rather than an “accident” to try to reduce any potential criminal charges for negligence.
“That scenario does not exist,” said Liu.
The authorities have carried out safety assessments on 29 events due to take place at future festivals in Shanghai, including the Lunar New Year next month, said Vice Mayor Zhou Bo.
Twenty-four have been given the go-ahead and five cancelled.
Three people are still in hospital after the New Year’s Eve disaster, said Xu Wei, a spokesman for the city government.
A man holds a portrait of a Shanghai stampede victim. Photo: AP
Families of revellers killed in Shanghai's New Year's Eve stampede will each receive 800,000 yuan (HK$1.01 million) in compensation, the Huangpu district government announced on Wednesday night after three weeks of silence on the issue.
The authorities said those injured in the stampede would be given payouts depending on the severity of their injuries, according to a statement on the district authority's official microblog.
The compensation for the deaths is in line with guidelines from the Supreme People's Court, which stipulate that payouts in such cases should be about 20 times the average annual income of a Shanghai resident.
The announcement came the same day that investigators released their report on the tragedy, making no mention of compensation in the document and refusing to answer questions on the issue at a press conference.
Four Huangpu district officials were sacked over the tragedy on the Bund, which claimed 36 lives and injured 49 others.
Three of the injured are still in hospital, one of whom is in critical condition.
Earlier in the day, relatives said they had been frustrated by the lack of progress on payouts.
An uncle of Hubei victim Wu Cuixia, who declined to be named, said none of the city or district leaders had talked to the relatives, many of whom had travelled from distant provinces and been split up into different hotels designated by local cadres.
"We haven't got a word of apology. They had no respect for the victims at all," the uncle said.
He said he was far from satisfied with the punishment announced, insisting that officials higher up should be held to account for an incident that could have been avoided with more security and a contingency plan.
Wu's uncle said local custom dictated that a funeral be held within days of death but Wu's body, together with those of other victims, was still in a funeral home, awaiting an outcome on compensation.
"It's been more than 20 days now … They apparently didn't have a guilty conscience," he said.
Lin Lin, a cousin of Changchun victim Zhan Yang, was equally frustrated.
Lin said after 21 days of mourning and waiting, she "turned on the TV at 11.10am [yesterday] in the hope of being updated about [compensation for] my cousin, but there wasn't a thing about it".
"Our family couldn't eat at all. They watched TV every day, hoping to get a clue, but nothing," she said.
"We called the government, and they told us to wait. We have already been waiting!"
A relative of a Fujian victim, who also did not want to be named, said he and many other relatives were disappointed that no medical official was punished, saying that some of the dead could have survived if they had received prompt treatment on arrival at hospital.
Several relatives previously told the South China Morning Post that their relatives were still alive when they were taken to hospital, but there were too many victims and too few medical staff.
At yesterday's press conference, Xiong Xinguang, director of the Shanghai government's emergency response office and a member of the investigation team, praised medical workers for their response.
Beijing-based lawyer Hao Junbo said the families were entitled to seek redress through the legal system but "court hearings are the last thing government officials want to see".
"Lawsuits will attract media attention and fuel public anger towards the officials' wrongdoings, which could be a catalyst for social disorder."
____________________________
TIMELINE: Shanghai stampede
December 31
8pm People start to gather in The Bund area, China News Service reports, citing the Huangpu district police commander.
11.30pm A witness hears women and children scream as people are crushed together near Chen Yi Square, and unease starts to spread through the crowd, according to the Southern Metropolis News.
Police spot unusual pedestrian movements near the square. They detect that “people have stopped moving” and dispatch 500 officers to the scene, China News Service reports, citing the Huangpu district police commander.
The first police officers arrive on the scene in “five to eight minutes”, Eastday.com quotes a police officer as saying.
11.34pm A witness sees several people fall on a staircase near the square. where the stampede took place. People nearby try to pull them up but fail as more pedestrians crowd the steps. The situation gets out of control and those on the ground are further pressed together, according to the Southern Metropolis News website, Nandu.com.
11.35pm The stampede occurs, according to the official account.
11.40pm Several pedestrians near the stairs shout “Back! Back!”, trying to stop more people flooding in, the Southern Metropolis News Nandu.com reports, citing a witness.
11.50pm A witness sees “fake money” that had been thrown from a building across the road, Eastday.com reports. The notes turn out to be bar coupons.
11.55pm The crowd starts to calm down. People help move the injured out of the stampede area. Some pedestrians try to resuscitate the start to do cardiopulmonary resuscitation on the injured while others clear a way for ambulances, Sina.com reports.
January 1
12.31am The Shanghai Public Security Bureau’s official microblog says police officers are evacuating pedestrians after some people fell in The Bund area.
3am Shanghai party chief Han Zheng visits the injured at the Shanghai No 1 People’s Hospital, China News Service reports.
4.01am Shanghai government’s microblog announces that 35 people were killed and 42 injured in the stampede. Later updated to 36 dead and 47 hurt.
