In a message dated 3/3/2003 12:44:13 PM Eastern Standard Time, [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes: > A fight broke out in the nightclub, pepper spray was used to break up > the fight, a panic for the exists started, security guards locked the > doors (????) and the people stampeded on top of one another. Most died > of cardiac arrest.
How sad! I just scanned through these links about this Iroquois Theater fire. The pictures of mothers searching through the makeshift morgue looking for their children are absolutely heartbreaking. I was in a horrible crowd situation in San Francisco on Halloween. You cannot imagine how terrifying this is until its happening. I was up against an enormous plate glass window trying to squeeze my way down the street, when the force of the crowd pinned me there. The energy of the pressure shifted and I was pinned. People started screaming for the crowd to give us space, but no one heard. I remember looking at that plate glass which was vibrating and starting to bow inward and thinking that it was going to shatter and cut us to shreds. No amount of pushing or pleading could stop the wave of pressure that was, in effect, pushing us through that window. Suddenly, miraculously, on the other side of the crowd, a band started to play, and the crowd surged forward and the wave of pressure shifted the other way. I got the hell out of there and remember walking up the hill to my apartment and watching cops in riot gear running down the hill toward the crowd. I never ventured out to the Halloween celebration after that. Ken
