Dozen Crushed In Mex. Nightclub Stampede

Crowd Panics After Police Raid Announced, Emergency Exit Blocked By Cases Of Beer

(CBS/AP)  At least a dozen people were crushed to death in a Mexico City nightclub, as panicked youths rushed for the exits during a police raid Friday evening, the capital's police chief said.

Chief Joel Ortega said three police officers and nine youths, at least three of them minors, were killed.

Up to 13 others were injured in the incident.

Police went to the News Divine club in the working-class district of Nueva Atzacoalco in the early evening to investigate reports of drugs and alcohol being sold to minors.

Ortega told the Televisa network the club's owner announced to the crowd that the officers were there to arrest them, causing a stampede.

He denied earlier media reports that officers threw tear gas inside the club and said no shots were fired.

Television pictures from the scene showed bodies lying on the ground outside the disco, and sobbing people grieving over them, and large numbers of riot police and ambulances, with people being helped onto them by police.

At a news conference later on Friday, Ortega said about 500 young people, more than the club's capacity, were there to celebrate the end of the school year and many more were waiting in line to get in.

Clubs in Mexico often host afternoon "tardeada" parties for clubbers as young as 16, though only patrons 18 and up are allowed to drink alcohol.

Ortega said the venue had a single entrance plus an emergency exit, which was obstructed by cases of beer.

"Many of the people concentrated at the club's emergency exit, but it was too small and it was there that people died of asphyxia," Ortega told Mexican TV channel Televisa.

Ortega said the club, which charged US$3 entry fee, was closed down last year due to several safety violations, but the owner won an injunction to reopen the venue.

Police detained 39 people including the owner.

Dozens of riot police were sent to control a crowd of grieving relatives and friends that had gathered at the scene.