Several people were injured at a New Year's Eve countdown party in a southern Taiwan city after a brief hysteria sparked by an alleged sighting of a man holding a knife during the event.
According to United Daily News (UDN), the gathering was located outside Kaohsiung's Dream Mall on Sunday (Dec 31), where partygoers were waiting to ring in the New Year together.
The organiser estimated that more than 340,000 attended the countdown.
The scene turned chaotic at 9pm as rumours about a man in his 20s pulling out a fruit knife after an argument with a man spread among the audience during the performance of local rock band Elephant Gym.
The lead singer, KT Chang, was addressing the audience when she suddenly uttered "someone has a knife" before hurrying off the stage with her band members, leaving their instruments behind.
In a video posted by China Times, many can be seen running in all directions while one of the emcees, Hao Zi, tries to control the crowd by asking them to not panic or push others.
"We have a lot of people at the scene right now. Everyone, please be careful," he added.
Describing the panic, one partygoer said that everyone started pushing and screaming, and that many people fell down, UDN reported.
"There were at least dozens of people in front of me. Everyone fell into a pile," said the partygoer.
Kaohsiung city government's Information Bureau director-general Hsiang Pin-ho said a small group of people who were stepped on during the incident and some others who felt anxiety about the situation were taken to a nearby medical station.
Many people had their arms and legs bruised while a young girl was so frightened that she began crying out loud, UDN reported.
The show was disrupted for 12 minutes before the Elephant Gym returned to stage to finish its act.
The police, who were called in to investigate the situation, said they did not find any suspicious individuals upon arriving at the scene.
After speaking with eye witnesses, the police clarified that the item the man took out was a ballpoint pen and not a knife. The two men involved have not yet been found.
On Oct 29, 2022, 159 people were killed in a crowd crush in South Korea when a huge crowd celebrating Halloween surged into an alley in a nightlife area in Seoul.
The tragedy prompted authorities, even outside of South Korea, to tighten crowd control measures during mass events.
This article was first published in The Straits Times. Permission required for reproduction.
