Three Die In Hungary Club Accident

Budapest Police have opened an inquiry into how three young women were killed in a stampede at one of the city’s most popular nightclubs Jan. 15.

Working alongside medical investigators the police will determine the cause of the deaths and work out if the recently refurbished West-Balkan nightclub had enough exits for its capacity.

They believe the women were caught in a crush after mass panic broke out on the top floor of the three-story disco.

The building was evacuated after the incident and sealed off for investigations.

Some clubbers on the second floor told Hungarian media they were totally unaware of what happened on the floor above until being told to leave the building.

The day after the incident, Hungarian radio stations were reporting the panic was started by someone shouting a warning that there was a knife fight, but the Budapest police had already denied earlier reports that the victims were stabbed.

Police spokeswoman Katalin Fanni Horvath says thousands of people were caught up in the stampede and the victims may have been trampled by the rushing crowd.

Pal Gyorfi, a spokesman for the city’s rescue services, said it was too early to say exactly how the women died.

The West-Balkan recently reopened after long and extensive renovations. It’s inside a Communist-era shopping mall and office complex in downtown Budapest, opposite the Nyugati (or western) railway station.

Witnesses have already told Hungarian media that the building was overcrowded.