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CNN Live Today
Nightclub Nightmare, 21 Trampled to Death
Aired February 17, 2003 - 11:13 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: We want to go to the midsection of the nation where a tragic story unfolded there this morning. In Chicago, a fight at a crowded nightclub sent bar patrons scrambling for exits, and at least 21 people did not make it out alive. They ended up being trampled to death in the rush for the doors, which happened to be chained shut.
CNN's Keith Oppenheim is standing by at the scene in Chicago. Let's check in with him now.
Hello -- Keith.
KEITH OPPENHEIM, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Leon.
I'm on South Michigan Avenue in Chicago, and the Epitome Nightclub is just behind me.
This incident began at around 2:00 in the morning Central Time, and the numbers that we're getting from it are just astounding; 21 people confirmed dead, approximately 30 people hospitalized. And as you can expect, those numbers could very well change during the day.
But as the problem began in the middle of the night, the series of responses that came out of it were just panic.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
OPPENHEIM (voice-over): Witnesses say the stampede began when security guards used pepper spray or Mace to break up a fight between female patrons.
You know, the smaller women was getting pushed and stamped on, you know, because the bigger guys was really trying to, you know, make head way to get out the door. But once they came through the main entrance, it just kind of like got stuck.
OPPENHEIM: Many of the victims were trampled as people rushed for the exits. But a rear door was chained shut, and eventually firefighters cut it open, but that came too late.
When the melee was under way, there was only one way down from the upstairs of the club, and officials say trampled bodies had to be pulled from the stairwell.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We had several people who were in cardiac arrest that were in traumatic asphyxiation from being crushed underneath the piles of people trying to get out of this building.
OPPENHEIM: There are conflicting reports about how many people were in the club, but witnesses say it was very crowded and may have been beyond capacity. Police say the area is being treated as a crime scene.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
Fire officials, at least some of them, have estimated that the number of people inside the club was 1,500. Just a little while ago, Leon, I talked to some folks on the street about that number. They thought that was just too high, that you couldn't get that many people in the club. They were patrons of the club, but they also felt that it was pretty regular for this place to have just one exit, and that they didn't know of another way out.
One woman I spoke to had been to a function, a private function, just a couple of months ago, and she said she knew of no fire exit that she saw when she was inside.
Back to you -- Leon.
HARRIS: That's interesting. Thank you, Keith -- Keith Oppenheim reporting live for us from Chicago.
We'll be going back to Chicago maybe in about 14 or15 minutes or so. We understand that authorities are going to be having a live press conference to explain some more about what they've learned in the wake of that incident there at that nightclub. We'll have that for you right here in live coverage.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.
Aired February 17, 2003 - 11:13 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: We want to go to the midsection of the nation where a tragic story unfolded there this morning. In Chicago, a fight at a crowded nightclub sent bar patrons scrambling for exits, and at least 21 people did not make it out alive. They ended up being trampled to death in the rush for the doors, which happened to be chained shut.
CNN's Keith Oppenheim is standing by at the scene in Chicago. Let's check in with him now.
Hello -- Keith.
KEITH OPPENHEIM, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Leon.
I'm on South Michigan Avenue in Chicago, and the Epitome Nightclub is just behind me.
This incident began at around 2:00 in the morning Central Time, and the numbers that we're getting from it are just astounding; 21 people confirmed dead, approximately 30 people hospitalized. And as you can expect, those numbers could very well change during the day.
But as the problem began in the middle of the night, the series of responses that came out of it were just panic.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
OPPENHEIM (voice-over): Witnesses say the stampede began when security guards used pepper spray or Mace to break up a fight between female patrons.
You know, the smaller women was getting pushed and stamped on, you know, because the bigger guys was really trying to, you know, make head way to get out the door. But once they came through the main entrance, it just kind of like got stuck.
OPPENHEIM: Many of the victims were trampled as people rushed for the exits. But a rear door was chained shut, and eventually firefighters cut it open, but that came too late.
When the melee was under way, there was only one way down from the upstairs of the club, and officials say trampled bodies had to be pulled from the stairwell.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We had several people who were in cardiac arrest that were in traumatic asphyxiation from being crushed underneath the piles of people trying to get out of this building.
OPPENHEIM: There are conflicting reports about how many people were in the club, but witnesses say it was very crowded and may have been beyond capacity. Police say the area is being treated as a crime scene.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
Fire officials, at least some of them, have estimated that the number of people inside the club was 1,500. Just a little while ago, Leon, I talked to some folks on the street about that number. They thought that was just too high, that you couldn't get that many people in the club. They were patrons of the club, but they also felt that it was pretty regular for this place to have just one exit, and that they didn't know of another way out.
One woman I spoke to had been to a function, a private function, just a couple of months ago, and she said she knew of no fire exit that she saw when she was inside.
Back to you -- Leon.
HARRIS: That's interesting. Thank you, Keith -- Keith Oppenheim reporting live for us from Chicago.
We'll be going back to Chicago maybe in about 14 or15 minutes or so. We understand that authorities are going to be having a live press conference to explain some more about what they've learned in the wake of that incident there at that nightclub. We'll have that for you right here in live coverage.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.
