A stampede in a nightclub in Lima, the capital of Peru, caused the death of 13 people on Saturday evening who tried to flee the police, who came to enforce the curfew imposed due to the COVID-19 epidemic.
“Following a police operation in a nightclub in Los Olivos, 13 people were declared dead,” Peruvian police chief General Orlando Velasco told RPP radio.
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“Following a police operation in a nightclub in Los Olivos, 13 people were declared dead,” Peruvian police chief General Orlando Velasco told RPP radio.
About 120 people attended the anniversary party relayed on social networks despite the ban on gatherings during the weekend, when the police broke into the establishment in Los Olivos, a popular district. from the Peruvian capital.
“Faced with the intervention of the police, who did not use any type of weapon or tear gas canister, the participants in the party tried to escape by the only front door and, in the stampede , found themselves wedged between the door and the stairs, ”the Interior Ministry said in a statement.
The haste to avoid arrest explains the tragedy, as Peruvian law provides for prison terms and fines equivalent to $ 110 for those who violate the measures taken to fight the epidemic.
In addition to the 13 dead, three other people were injured as well as three police officers who tried to rescue people trapped in the nightclub.
The victims were between 20 and 30 years old, according to information published by local media.
Among the thirteen victims identified so far are twelve women and a man, said Peruvian Minister of Women, Rosario Sasieta, who went there and visited the injured hospitalized.
She demanded “the maximum sanction for the owners of the disco, who are in fact responsible” for this tragedy. “This should never have happened, we are in the midst of a pandemic, there is a health emergency,” she said on RPP radio.
President Martín Vizcarra deplored the tragedy and expressed his “anger at the irresponsibility” of the organizers of the party. “It’s not possible that when we have people like caregivers putting their lives on the line to save lives, there are business people like the owners of this nightclub exposing people’s lives.” , the head of state told reporters.
The police operation was triggered an hour before the start of the night curfew, after neighbors complained about the party.
Some witnesses refuted the authorities’ version, saying that the police had used tear gas to evacuate the establishment.
“It appears that the police entered and threw tear gas canisters. And they locked them up and apparently they were asphyxiated, ”a resident told RPP radio.
“If I could get out of it – God knows why – my friend who was with me died in my arms”, told the press a young woman present at the party.
Twenty-three people were arrested. Among them, 15 tested positive for the coronavirus at the Los Olivos police station. This celebration “was a very big source of infection,” said Dr Claudio Ramirez, from the Ministry of Health.
Among the people who died in the accident were identified “eleven corpses infected with the virus,” added the prosecution.
Peru, which has 33 million inhabitants, is the third Latin American country most affected by the coronavirus after Brazil and Mexico, with 27,453 deaths and 585,000 cases of contamination.
Faced with the spread of the disease, the government has limited gatherings there and imposed a weekend curfew.
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