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1956 Yahiko Shrine Stampede

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1956 Yahiko Shrine Stampede
Date1 January 1956 (1956-01-01)
LocationYahiko Shrine, Yahiko, Japan
Participants35000–40000
Deaths124
Non-fatal injuries75
Property damagecollapsed shrine stone walls

Just after midnight in the morning of 1 January 1956 a human crowd crush and stampede resulted in the death of 124 individuals and 75 people were injured at the Yahiko Shrine, Yahiko, Japan.

Stampede

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Around midnight of 1 January 1956, 35,000 to 40,000 people visited the Yahiko Shrine to pay the traditional honors on the occasion of the new year.[1] Just after midnight a stampede occurred on the steep steps leading to the shrine at the moment the priest started throwing down rice cookies, according to the tradition. The two-metres high stone walls on the sides of the stair collapsed due to the pushing by crowd. People were buried under the stones or fell down. [2]

Initial reports listed 112 deaths and 50 injured people.[3][4] These numbers later increased to 124 deaths and 75 injured people.[5]

References

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  1. ^ "124 Sjinto-pelgrims in gedrang verpletterd". De Maasbode (in Dutch). 2 January 1956. p. 2 – via Delpher.
  2. ^ "Gedrang bij Sjinto-heiligdom: ruim honderd doden". Leeuwarder Courant : Hoofdblad van Friesland (in Dutch). Leeuwarder Courant. 2 January 1956. p. 3 – via Delpher.
  3. ^ "112 JAPANESE DIE IN PANIC AT SHRINE". The New York Times. 1 January 1956.
  4. ^ "Ramp in heiligdom" (in Dutch). De Stem. 2 January 1956. p. 1 – via krantenbankzeeland.nl.
  5. ^ "Het aantal" (in Dutch). De Stem. 3 January 1956. p. 1 – via krantenbankzeeland.nl.