Latest news with #escalator
Yahoo
5 days ago
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Fan scared by bug sparks stampede after pop icon's concert, hurting 11
A stampede after Beyoncé's Atlanta concert last week that was reportedly started by a fan being scared by a bug injured at least 11 people, according to Billboard. The incident happened at Vine City Station as concertgoers gathered to use the Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority (MARTA) to get home from the 'Cowboy Carter Tour' show at Mercedes-Benz Stadium on July 15. Videos on social media captured crowds pouring into the station and an escalator malfunctioning, throwing people on top of each other as a result. Billboard reported the stampede was caused by a fan who had screamed after seeing a bug. MARTA told the outlet that 11 people were injured in the incident. 'One person suffered a broken ankle, seven people were transported to the hospital with cuts and scrapes, and one person declined transport,' a MARTA spokesperson told Billboard. 'Two people requested medical assistance after reaching their destinations. MARTA Police on scene reported that a person began screaming and running, causing a stampede on the escalator that caused it to temporarily speed up and then stop suddenly.' The spokesperson added, 'MARTA Police on scene said there was a scream and witnesses said the person who screamed was reacting to an insect. I believe there's also video on TikTok of a woman claiming it was a 10-year-old relative who screamed when she saw a bug.' The escalator was later barricaded and was said to be under investigation, Billboard reported. The frighting ordeal happened on the fourth and final night of Beyoncé's Atlanta run on the 'Cowboy Carter Tour.' Also in Atlanta, Beyoncé's choreographer and dancer were robbed on July 8, with some of the superstar's unreleased music and touring plans being stolen. The final stops on the 'Cowboy Carter Tour' are on July 25 and 26 at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas, Nevada. More music content Rock legend fighting incurable disease performs 7 years after retiring Popular rock frontman 'doing great' amid battle with stage 4 cancer Live Wire: Eyrie House Ruins bring 'gothic folk' to Easthampton First Cambridge Porchfest, with live neighborhood concerts, kicks off July 19-20 Coldplay's Chris Martin calls out awkward moment at Gillette Stadium show Read the original article on MassLive. Solve the daily Crossword
BBC News
6 days ago
- BBC News
Glasgow carer put under curfew after disabled woman's escalator fall
A carer has been electronically tagged after a disabled woman she was looking after fell down an escalator and later died in hospital. Debbie McWhannell, 33, pushed 71-year-old Catherine Muir's wheelchair onto the escalator at Easterhouse Shopping Centre in July 2023 because the lift was out of order but lost control and it fell down. Ms Muir, who was non-verbal and had various medical conditions, suffered a broken jaw. She died in hospital 11 days later having contracted from Glasgow, ignored a sign that warned against putting wheelchairs on an escalator. She pleaded guilty at Glasgow Sheriff Court to an offence under the Health and Safety at Work Shona Gilroy tagged McWhannell for six months, keeping her indoors between 20:00 and 09:00 as an "alternative to custody". McWhannell, a supported living assistant for Inclusion Scotland, had initially taken Ms Muir, who was prone to dizziness, up an escalator at the shopping they descended, McWhannell held onto the wheelchair with one Kristina Reilly said: "When the wheelchair with Catherine [Muir] strapped in began to descend, McWhannell lost her grip completely and the wheelchair tumbled to the bottom."Ms Muir, from Dunoon, Argyll and Bute, suffered a head injury and a fractured left jaw which required surgery, including restoring displaced bones using rods and was placed in the high dependency unit but contracted pneumonia and died 11 days later. 'Horrible mistake' Catherine's brother Donald and sister Janet said they did not want McWhannell to be jailed. "She made a horrible mistake and she will have to live with that for the rest of her days - it should never have happened," they said. "It was a sad loss - she lived 72 years and to die that way is just tragic. It's been a disaster."The family said they hoped the incident would raise awareness about escalators. They added: "I can't imagine what was in her head - Catherine was not a wee lightweight and had a bulky wheelchair."To even attempt to go down an escalator - I can't imagine why, it's shocking." McWhannell was suspended from her job pending an McCarthy, defending, said: "She deeply regrets her involvement in this matter and that it took place."Sheriff Gilroy described it as an "utterly tragic" said: "This was an isolated incident caused by a dreadful decision made by an otherwise law abiding member of society."A prison sentence of up to 26 weeks would not help rehabilitation and I am persuaded there is an alternative to custody."
The Independent
18-07-2025
- Entertainment
- The Independent
Insect may have caused stampede following Beyoncé concert
An insect may have caused a stampede at an Atlanta metro station as concert-goers left a Beyoncé concert, transit officials say. The 'Single Ladies' singer is on a world tour to promote her country album 'Cowboy Carter.' After a show in Atlanta, fans packed the Vine City Station early Tuesday on their way home from the Mercedes-Benz Stadium downtown. Chaos ensued as an overcrowded escalator started to speed up and then abruptly stop, throwing people to the ground, according to NBC News affiliate WXIA. Transit officials now say the commotion and the injuries of nine people that followed were caused by a girl screaming about a bug. Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority police who were there during the stampede said they heard a scream, and witnesses reported 'the person who screamed was reacting to an insect,' Stephany Fisher, MARTA's senior director of communications, said Friday, per NBC News. 'I believe there's also video on TikTok of a woman claiming it was a 10-year-old relative who screamed when she saw a bug,' Fisher said. He added: 'Video from the rail station clearly shows people reacting and running, but you can't see who screamed or what they were reacting to.' One person caught in the chaos on the escalator suffered a broken ankle, and seven others were hospitalized with cuts and scrapes, the outlet reported. Officials say the ninth person declined to go to the hospital. In a video of the stampede, concert-goers can be seen sliding down an escalator. People can be heard screaming, and the person recording the video was asking if everyone was okay. Several people were seen on the floor of the station, and the person filming said, 'I'm shocked only two people end up on the ground.' Scott Kreher, police chief of the Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority, shared a similar story to Fisher. He said, per WXIA, the commotion was sparked by a girl who unexpectedly saw a cockroach or "palmetto bug.' "There was someone who started to scream outside of the station. She was startled by a bug outside the large crowd," acting CEO Rhonda Allen told the MARTA board Thursday, the local outlet reported. Allen continued: "Imagine a group of people saying, 'I want to get down I want to get down,' began to usher themselves down the escalator.' The official explained how the weight and abrupt movement from the stampede caused the escalator to malfunction. She said the escalator passed an inspection days before the incident. Allen said MARTA will have a 'more aggressive approach' when staffing these types of events and better manage the flow of people onto escalators.
Reuters
18-07-2025
- Business
- Reuters
Schindler's revenue falls in Q2, but beats market forecasts
July 18 (Reuters) - Swiss lift and escalator maker Schindler (SCHP.S), opens new tab reported a 5.7% drop in its second-quarter sales on Friday, citing negative currency exchange effects. The company posted quarterly revenue of 2.75 billion Swiss francs ($3.43 billion), down from 2.92 billion francs a year earlier, but beat analysts' average forecast of 2.65 billion francs, according to LSEG data. "Notably, our efforts in modernization are paying off, driving solid organic growth at a time of macro-economic uncertainty and severe currency headwinds," CEO Paolo Compagna said in a statement. Schindler has focused on digitalization in recent years, a move that it expects to drive growth through enhanced customer loyalty as services become more efficient. The group's quarterly order intake amounted to 2.93 billion Swiss francs, compared to 2.99 billion francs a year earlier. ($1 = 0.8027 Swiss francs)
Yahoo
17-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Eleven people injured in crowd crush after a Beyoncé concert. How this happens, and how to stay safe.
Eleven people were injured in a crowd crush incident in an Atlanta train station early Tuesday morning after a Beyoncé concert. Police reported that a woman had screamed and started running for an unknown reason in the Vine City Station, which caused people to panic and rush down the escalator to get to the train platform, a spokesperson for MARTA, Atlanta's transportation agency, said in an email to Yahoo. The incident took place after midnight when people were leaving Mercedes-Benz Stadium after the final performance of Beyoncé's Cowboy Carter tour. As people ran down the escalator, it briefly sped up before abruptly stopping, causing people to fall forward on top of each other. Ten people were taken to the hospital, including one person who broke their ankle, the MARTA spokesperson confirmed to Yahoo. The spokesperson said that the escalator has since been blocked off and that MARTA and the escalator's manufacturer will investigate the incident. So-called crowd crushes are dangerous and even potentially fatal events that occur when a large group of people is stuck in a confined area and people start to panic, trying to get out. A number of high-profile fatal crowd crush incidents have made headlines in recent years, including the 2021 Astroworld Festival in Houston, where 10 victims, including a 9-year-old boy, died after 50,000 people ran toward the stage during rapper Travis Scott's performance. Another recent crowd crush incident happened in South Korea in 2022, when a horde of people was crammed into a small alleyway during a Halloween party in Seoul. More than 150 people died in the tragic event. G. Keith Still, a visiting professor of crowd science at the University of Suffolk, has studied crowd dynamics for the last 30 years and is an author at the Global Crowd Management Alliance (GCMA), an organization dedicated to advancing crowd management and security services. He spoke to Yahoo about how crowd crushes happen and what people can do to protect themselves if they end up in one. What causes a crowd crush? Crowd crushes are 'a situation where people fill a space beyond safe limits, making it difficult for individuals to breathe or move freely,' according to GCMA. They are caused by 'overcrowding' and 'poor infrastructure or ineffective communication.' The MARTA crowd crush was caused by a 'cascade reaction,' Still said, which is 'like dominoes falling over.' One woman screamed and started running, so the group around her started running down the escalator, even if they didn't know what was happening. 'People running away from a perceived threat, whether it's real or imaginary or a false alarm, it's still a very logical, rational thing to do,' he said. The Astroworld Festival incident, on the other hand, was caused by packing more people into a fenced-off section than could safely fit within that space, according to Still. How do crowd crushes become fatal? In crowd crushes, Still said, people are packed together so tightly that they start to lose the ability to move their limbs independently and struggle to breathe properly. This is why people tend to suffocate, even if they're standing. 'In these environments, you only have a few minutes to get people out before they become restricted in breathing,' Still explained. 'It's about six minutes before constrictive asphyxia sets in — suffocation.' He added that in many tight spaces packed with large crowds, six minutes is often not enough time for people to remove themselves or for rescuers to try to pull people out. How to stay safe If you find yourself in a large gathering or a situation where you're worried about a potential crowd crush, Still said it's helpful to know where all exits are and to stay on the outskirts of the space. He said it's important to assess the environment and envision what you would do to get out of the area if something happened. 'Just a moment to contemplate as you're entering the venue makes you feel a lot more aware of your surroundings,' he said. Still also advised organizers and venues to keep admission for events below maximum capacity and to have multiple entrances and exits to ensure easy flow in and out of the space. If, as was the case in Atlanta this week, you are in a large crowd and hear someone scream or otherwise have reason to believe there is a threat, Still urges remaining calm and assessing the situation before giving into the natural instinct to run. He recommended asking yourself these questions: 'What triggered this? Was it a scream? Was it a shout? Is it just everybody else reacting?' The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention advises that if you do find yourself in a crowd crush, you should not try to resist the force of the crowd, but try to carefully work your way to the outskirts of the group. The CDC recommends keeping your hands in front of your chest 'like a boxer,' and to try remaining on your feet as long as you can. If you do fall, you should try to protect yourself by curling into a ball rather than lying flat. Solve the daily Crossword
