One witness, Anthony Warren, was visiting Sydney for the Vivid festival and said the crowds looked ‘packed together like sardines’ and ‘panicked’.One witness, Anthony Warren, was visiting Sydney for the Vivid festival and said the crowds looked ‘packed together like sardines’ and ‘panicked’.The NSW premier, Chris Minns, has conceded organisers need to “do better” after the crowd at Vivid’s drone show were left feeling trapped and panicked, with one expert describing it as a “near-miss incident”.
Sign up for Guardian Australia’s free morning and afternoon email newsletters for your daily news roundup Minns said he believed the crowd size could be attributed in part to the cost-of-living crisis and the draw of a large-scale free event.“I know people are doing it tough at the moment and this is an opportunity for families to spend time together … enjoy something that doesn’t cost any money,” he said.Trains, buses, and ferries were diverted on Sunday night as organisers made arrangements to prevent the same crowd-building to continue around transport hubs.
“People just could not get out – there were people stuck there for over an hour, just standing. And I noticed some of the barricades were being disassembled, which eventually eased the crush.”Our Australian afternoon update breaks down the key stories of the day, telling you what’s happening and why it mattersDr Milad Haghani, a crowd safety expert at UNSW, said he was concerned about the location of the barricades, adding that it was an issue Vivid management could “learn from”.
“I think there was a misestimation of the crowd size, and the placement of the barricades could have contributed to the issue. You cannot just put barricades without having a good understanding of the amount of people who will turn up, which can be a challenge.”
Entertainment Entertainment Latest News, Entertainment Entertainment Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
Source: GuardianAus - 🏆 1. / 98 Read more »