The 2017 Turin stampede ( it, italics=no, Tragedia di Piazza San Carlo) occurred on 3 June 2017 when panic emerged in the

Piazza San Carlo (" St. Charles Square"), previously known as , , and , is one of the main city squares in Turin, Italy. It was laid out in the 16th and 17th century and is an example of Baroque style. The 1838 Equestrian monument of Emmanuel Philibert by Carlo ...

after a robbery attempt during a screening of the

UEFA Champions League Final The UEFA Champions League is a seasonal football competition established in 1955. Prior to the 1992–93 season, the tournament was named the European Cup. The UEFA Champions League is open to the league champions of all UEFA (Union of European ...

Turin Turin ( , Piedmontese language, Piedmontese: ; it, Torino ) is a city and an important business and cultural centre in Northern Italy. It is the capital city of Piedmont and of the Metropolitan City of Turin, and was the first Italian capital ...

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

between local team

Juventus Juventus Football Club (from la, iuventūs, 'youth'; ), colloquially known as Juve (), is a professional Association football, football club based in Turin, Piedmont, Italy, that competes in the Serie A, the top tier of the Italian football leagu ...

and

Real Madrid Real Madrid Club de Fútbol (, meaning ''Royal Madrid Football Club''), commonly referred to as Real Madrid, is a Spanish professional football club based in Madrid. Founded in 1902 as Madrid Football Club, the club has traditionally wor ...

. Three people died as a result of the incident, and at least 1,672 people were injured.

Stampede

The incident occurred at approximately 10:30 p.m. local time, about 10 minutes before the end of the match, when

panic Panic is a sudden sensation of fear, which is so strong as to dominate or prevent reason and logical thinking, replacing it with overwhelming feelings of anxiety and frantic agitation consistent with an animalistic fight-or-flight reactio ...

erupted among those at

, leading to a stampede. During the panic, a railing of stairs leading to an underground parking garage gave way, causing additional injuries. Although the panic was initially thought to be caused by the noise of

firecracker A firecracker (cracker, noise maker, banger) is a small explosive device primarily designed to produce a large amount of noise, especially in the form of a loud bang, usually for celebration or entertainment; any visual effect is incidental t ...

s, it was later determined to be caused by a robbery attempt of shooting pepper spray into the crowd to steal valuables among the public, and someone shouting that a bomb had gone off may have fueled the panic.

Casualties

At least 1,672 people were injured, including seven who were seriously injured. On 15 June, less than two weeks after the stampede, a 38-year-old woman, Erika Pioletti, died in hospital of her sustained injuries. Another woman, Marisa Amato, became

tetraplegic Tetraplegia, also known as quadriplegia, is defined as the dysfunction or loss of motor and/or sensory function in the cervical area of the spinal cord. A loss of motor function can present as either weakness or paralysis leading to partial or ...

and eventually died in hospital on 25 January 2019. A man, Anthony Bucci, died on 31 January 2020, in hospital after two years of battling with an amputated foot.

Investigation

In November 2017, the Prosecutor Office of Turin started a formal investigation involving around twenty suspects, included the mayor Chiara Appendino and the police chief Angelo Sanna. On 13 April 2018, eight people were arrested on charges of triggering mass panic to commit a robbery using pepper spray. One of them confessed the crime. The suspects were identified by telephone interceptions, in one of which a gold necklace stolen in the event was mentioned. On 17 May 2019, Sohaib Bouimadaghen, Hamza Belghazi and Mohammed Machmachi were sentenced to 10 years, 4 months and 20 days in prison, and Aymene El Sahibi to 10 years, 3 months and 24 days in prison.

Reactions

Some older Juventus fans said the stampede had evoked painful memories of the Heysel Stadium disaster in 1985, when 39 people, mostly Italians and Juventus supporters, were crushed against a collapsing wall by British hooligans in

Brussels Brussels (french: Bruxelles or ; nl, Brussel ), officially the Brussels-Capital Region (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) (french: link=no, Région de Bruxelles-Capitale; nl, link=no, Bruss ...

, Belgium, before the start of the

1985 European Cup Final The 1985 European Cup Final was an association football match between Liverpool of England and Juventus of Italy on 29 May 1985 at the Heysel Stadium, Brussels, Belgium. It was the final match of the 1984–85 season of the European Cup, Euro ...

between Juventus and

Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a popul ...

. On 14 May 2019, the two first victims of the tragedy were commemorated with a plaque in the square.

References

{{coord, 45.06773, N, 7.68259, E, type:landmark, display=title 2016–17 UEFA Champions League 2010s in Turin Human stampedes in 2017 Human stampedes in Italy 2017 disasters in Italy June 2017 events in Italy Juventus F.C. Sports-related accidents and incidents