Death toll from Germany’s Love Parade music festival stampede rises to 19, with 342 injured

Death toll from German music festival rises to 19

BERLIN — Police say the death toll has risen to 19 from the stampede that occurred at a German music festival and that 342 were injured.

Germans are shocked that the mass panic at the annual Love Parade festival turned so deadly at a street party meant to celebrate love and peace in Duisburg city.

Authorities are certain to face tough questions over why there was only one entrance through a tunnel to grounds for what is billed as the world’s largest techno party.

Hundreds of thousands of people were there Saturday.

The panic began after police closed the parade grounds because they were overcrowded.

They told revelers over loudspeakers to turn around and walk back in the other direction. When the panic began, people got trampled to death in the tunnel.