CORINALDO – A stampede in a nightclub in the town of Corinaldo in the early hours of Saturday morning left six dead and dozens injured, police sources report.

 Five of the six people who died were between 14 and 16, while the other, a 39-year-old mother of four, had gone to the nightclub with her daughter.

 The panic that lead to the stampede was reportedly caused by pepper spray being fired in the Lanterna Azzurra club, where rapper Sfera Ebbasta was giving a concert to around 1000 people.

 Reports from the incident suggest that before the concert had begun, an “acrid smell” caused crowds to rush to the exit. The chaos caused railings to give way and people fell off a raised walkway. “At one point we started to cough, there wasn’t any air, like in a fire, and we all went towards the exit,” one of the young people at the concert told reporters after the incident. “Some people fell and were crushed by others who were running,” according to the eyewitness.

 The dozens of injured people were taken to intensive care units in Senigallia and Ancona after suffering crushing wounds and broken limbs, police have reported. Seven are said to be in intensive care.

 Investigations into the incident have already been launched by police on two fronts. They aim to ascertain who used the pepper spray that instigated the stampede and also to evaluate the failure of the club’s management to install sufficient safety measures. “Around 1400 tickets were sold for a venue that holds 870 people,” Ancona’s head prosecutor Monica Garulli alleges.

 Italy’s most senior politicians expressed their condolences to the families affected by the tragedy, while also calling for answers from the authorities involved. “Now is the moment for condolences and support, but it is clear that there are many questions regarding the responsibility for this tragedy,” Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte wrote on Facebook.

 Interior Minister Matteo Salvini invited those present at a Lega rally in Piazza del Popolo in Rome to observe a minute’s silence in honour of the victims, while his counterpart Luigi di Maio promised that the government would seek “complete clarity” about the incident. “It is absurd to die like this,” Di Maio added in a Facebook post, sending his thoughts and condolences to the families of the victims.

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