The Beijing Municipal Government will cover the expenses of medical treatment for the people injured in the Lantern Festival stampede in suburban Miyun County, according to Wang Chen, president of Beijing's Chaoyang Hospital.  

The five people seriously injured are now out of danger, and four of them will be discharged in a few days, Wang said.

 

Of the 37 people trampled to death during Miyun's Lantern Festival celebration Thursday evening, 25 were Miyun residents, eight from Hebei Province, and the other four from Shunyi County of Beijing and Henan, Anhui and Heilongjiang provinces.

 

The Beijing Municipal Health Bureau dispatched 42 ambulances and 110 doctors and drivers to the spot immediately after the accident occurred. The rescue was quick, comprehensive and effective, said Zhao Yongchun, a doctor at the Beijing First-aid Center.

 

The first 15 injured people were sent to hospitals Thursday night. The first to recover -- a father and son from Hebei – were discharged Saturday.

 

The accident occurred at 7:45 p.m. Thursday in Mihong Park, where people were celebrating the Lantern Festival, which falls on the 15th day of the first Chinese lunar month and is regarded as the last day of the Spring Festival.

 

One spectator stumbled on a bridge, resulting in a stampede that caused many others to fall and be trampled upon. Many suffocated to death. Doctors rushed to the site right after the crush occurred.

 

Chinese President Hu Jintao and Premier Wen Jiabao called for the utmost efforts to save the injured and urged an investigation into the accident.

 

(Xinhua News Agency February 8, 2004)