More than 1,500 people were injured, three seriously, after a bomb scare triggered a stampede among Juventus fans watching the Champions League final in Turin, local authorities said Sunday. In an update on Saturday's dramatic events in a square packed with supporters watching the Cardiff match on a giant screen, the local prefecture said 1,527 had been treated for mainly minor injuries.
Three people were in a serious condition, including a young boy of Chinese origin who was crushed after tripping as he tried to run. "We were buried under bodies," his sister told reporters outside the hospital where he was reported to be in a coma with chest injuries.
AFP reporters who witnessed the scenes said the panic seemed to have been triggered by fireworks, followed by one or more people shouting that a bomb had exploded - a notion that quickly filtered through the crowd. The incident compounded a miserable night for fans of Turin-based Juventus, who lost the final 4-1 to Real Madrid. It also underlined the impact recent acts of terror are having on a jittery public across Europe, and the dilemmas now faced by organisers of any mass gathering of people following the Bataclan, Paris and Manchester concert attacks.