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San Carlo's Square in Turin which was abandoned when fans watching the Uefa Champions League final fled the area in panic. Photo: EPA

Around 1,500 injured in Juventus Champions League final fan panic after bomb scare – police

Incident in Turin on Saturday evokes painful memories of the 1985 Heysel disaster in which 39 mostly Italian fans died

A bomb scare triggered panic among Juventus fans assembled to watch the Champions League final in Turin, leaving some 1,500 injured, according to local police.

Chaotic scenes ensued 10 minutes before the end of the match, apparently triggered by fireworks being let off and one or more people shouting that a bomb had gone off.

That was enough to trigger a stampede out of the city’s Piazza San Carlo.

The square was evacuated so quickly it was left strewn with sneakers ripped off people’s feet as they ran.

“The root cause of this was panic, to understand what triggered it we will have to wait a while,” said top local official Renato Saccone, the prefect of Turin.

Police said some 1,500 people had needed hospital treatment with two of them in a serious condition.

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Some injuries occurred after a railing around the entrance to an underground parking beneath the square gave way under the weight of the crush.

Local media cited older Juventus fans present as saying the panic had evoked painful memories of the 1985 Heysel disaster in which 39 mostly Italian fans died when they were crushed by a collapsing wall before the start of that year’s European Cup final against Liverpool.

Agence France-Presse

This article appeared in the South China Morning Post print edition as: bomb scare
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