Nyamiha stampede
 Entrance to the Niamiha metro station in 2005 | |
| Date | 30 May 1999 |
|---|---|
| Location | Minsk, Belarus |
| Deaths | 53 |
A stampede at the Nyamiha metro station in Minsk, Belarus on 30 May 1999, killed 53 people, mostly young women.
Disaster
[edit]A group of more than 2000 people, mostly teenagers and schoolchildren, gathered near the Minsk Sports Palace to watch a performance by then-popular Soviet rock band Mango-Mango held in celebration of the radio station Mir FM's second anniversary. It was a warm sunny day, but forecasters warned that there might be hail and thunderstorms that evening. The concert started at 8 p.m. The police attempted to control the crowd, but there were no barriers.[1][2]
The stampede was funneled into the blocked underpass of the metro station and many people (mostly young women) were killed in the ensuing crowd crush when they started slipping on the wet pavement, falling, and trampling each other.[3][4][page needed][5] The incident was compounded by the fact that much of the crowd had been drinking during the concert, so they did not realize that they were stomping on the corpses of the victims.[6]
Intensive care units of nearby hospitals were overwhelmed with the influx of victims. In the first half hour after the disaster, victims were brought to hospitals in cars and minibuses, along with police cars and ambulances.[7]
Victims
[edit]The official death toll was 53. The victims died from suffocation and trampling. A survivor of the disaster recalls seeing a corpse with a hole in the stomach, caused a thin shoe heel from a woman's shoe.[6] Most of the victims were young women and girls aged 14-20. Only three of the victims (36, 47, and 61) were older.[2] Two police officers were also killed in the crush.[1]
Aftermath
[edit]Many eyewitnesses to the disaster believed that it could have been prevented if the police had not allowed such a large group to rush into the metro station at the same time.[7]
Belarus had a two-day mourning period after the event.[2]
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A memorial at the site of the disaster in at the Nyamiha metro station -
Memorial plaque at the Chizhovsky cemetery in Minsk -
Alley of graves of the victims of the crush at the Chizhovsky cemetery in Minsk -
Memorial to the victims of the crush at the Eastern Minsk cemetary
References
[edit]- ^ a b Pogodina, Alina (30 May 2024). "«Люди бежали в укрытие, а по ним — девушки на каблуках»: очевидец о трагедии в минском метро". Gazeta.Ru (in Russian). Retrieved 2 February 2025.
- ^ a b c "После трагедии на "Немиге" прошло 25 лет: в Минске почтили память жертв". Tochka (in Russian). 30 May 2024. Retrieved 2 February 2025.
- ^ "Belarus stampede kills 54". BBC News. 31 May 1999. Archived from the original on 16 August 2022. Retrieved 22 June 2018.
- ^ Tragedii͡a︡ na Nemige fakty, svidetelʹstva, kommentarii : Minsk 30 mai͡a︡ 1999 goda Tatʹi͡a︡na Revi͡a︡ko, Polina Stepanenko. Published 2000 by GTD in Minsk, Vilʹni͡u︡s . Written in Russian.
- ^ "Трагедия на Немиге: как подземный переход стал туннелем смерти" [Tragedy on Nemiga: how the underpass became a tunnel of death]. Gazetaby.com (in Russian). 29 May 2009. Archived from the original on 11 March 2016. Retrieved 22 June 2018.
- ^ a b Kozlik, Irina; Borisevich, Katerina (27 May 2019). "Трагедия на Немиге: «Трупы в ряд складывали на лужайке возле метро. Первой лежала женщина, за ней подростки лет 14…»". Komsomolskaya Pravda (in Russian). Retrieved 2 February 2025.
- ^ a b "«53 шрама на сердце Белоруссии»: 20 лет страшной давке в Минске". Gazeta.Ru (in Russian). 30 May 2019. Retrieved 2 February 2025.
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