4 killed, 8 injured in a stampede struggling to enter disco for free

Four people were killed and eight wounded in a stampede at the entrance to a Russian night club, after the club's owner announced free entrance to the disco.

The victims, three high-school girls and a 30-year-old man, who were trying to squeeze into Capella disco at the city of Pervouralsk in Russia's Urals, Interfax said Sunday.

Eight more people required medical help, and one of them had to be taken to the hospital.

They were in a crowd of two hundred people seeking to get in on Saturday night.

“The disco's organizers had announced the entrance would be free for those who went in during the first half an hour of the event,” a spokesman for the local police said.

“The rest of the people would have to pay for the tickets. This is what caused the stampede.”

The accident attracted local police, the city mayor, and officials from the prosecutor's office. The police said the number of victims could have been more “by dozens,” had they not arrived in time. The police drove away the crowd and provided urgent medical help for the injured.

A criminal case will be launched against the disco's owner, who failed to provide the necessary safety precautions.