April 15 1989: Fans desperately try to climb out of the crush in the terraces at Leppings Lane.
Source : Wikipedia.
Hillsborough Stadium was segregated between the opposing fans as was customary at all large matches, the Liverpool supporters being assigned to the Leppings Lane End of the stadium. Kick-off was scheduled for 3:00 pm, with fans advised to take up their positions fifteen minutes beforehand. On the day of the match both radio and television advised that supporters without tickets should not attend.
It was reported that many fans arriving from Lancashire and around had been delayed by unannounced roadworks on the M62 motorway over the Pennines.
Between 2:30 pm and 2:40 pm, there was a considerable build-up of fans in the small area outside the turnstile entrances to the Leppings Lane End, all eager to enter the stadium quickly before the match started. A bottleneck developed with more fans arriving than could enter the two cages set in the middle of the Leppings Lane stand. People who had been refused entry could not leave the area because of the crush behind them but remained as an obstruction. The fans outside could hear the cheering from inside as the teams came on the pitch ten minutes before the match started, and again as the match kicked-off, but could not get in; the start was not delayed while the fans got in. Security opened a side gate to eject someone, and 20 people rushed in through it. With an estimated 5,000 fans trying to get through the turnstiles, and increasing security concerns over crushing outside the turnstiles, the police, to avoid deaths outside the ground, opened a set of gates, intended as an exit, which did not have turnstiles (Gate C). This caused a rush of supporters through the gate into the stadium.
The result was that an influx of many thousands of fans through a narrow tunnel at the rear of the terrace, and into the two already-overcrowded central pens, caused a huge crush at the front of the terrace, where people were being pressed up against the fencing by the weight of the crowd behind them. The people entering were unaware of the problems at the fence—police or stewards would normally have stood at the entrance to the tunnel if the central pens had reached capacity, and would have directed fans to the side pens, but on this occasion they did not, for reasons which have never been fully explained.
For some time, the problem at the front was not noticed by anybody other than those affected; the attention of most people was absorbed by the match, which had already begun. It was not until 3:06 pm that the referee, after being advised by the police, stopped the match several minutes after fans had started climbing the fence to escape the crush. By this time, a small gate in the fencing had been forced open and some fans escaped via this route; others continued to climb over the fencing, and still other fans were pulled to safety by fellow fans in the West Stand directly above the Leppings Lane terrace. Finally the fence broke under pressure of people.
Liverpool fans desperately try to climb the fence onto the safety of the pitch
Fans were packed so tightly in the pens that many died standing up of compressive asphyxia. The pitch quickly started to fill with people sweating and gasping for breath and injured by crushing, and with the bodies of the dead. The police, stewards and ambulance service present at the stadium were overwhelmed. Uninjured fans helped as best they could, many attempting CPR and some tearing down advertising hoardings to act as makeshift stretchers.
As these events unfolded, some police officers were still being deployed to make a cordon three-quarters of the way down the pitch, with the aim of preventing Liverpool supporters reaching the Nottingham Forest supporters at the opposite end of the stadium. Some fans tried to break through the police cordon to ferry injured supporters to waiting ambulances, and were forcibly turned back. (44 ambulances had arrived at the stadium, but police prevented all but one from entering, and that one was forced to turn back due to the vast amount of people who needed help.)
A total of 94 people died on the day, with 766 other fans being injured and around 300 being taken to hospital. Four days later, the death toll reached 95 when 14-year-old Lee Nicol died in hospital from his injuries. The final death toll became 96 in March 1993, when Tony Bland died after remaining in a coma for nearly four years.
96 dead :
John Alfred Anderson , Thomas Howard , Colin Mark Ashcroft , Thomas Anthony Howard , James Gary Aspinall , Eric George Hughes , Kester Roger Marcus Ball, Alan Johnston , Gerard Bernard Patrick Baron , Christine Anne Jones, Simon Bell , Gary Philip Jones, Barry Sidney Bennett , Richard Jones , David John Benson , Nicholas Peter Joynes , David William Birtle , Anthony Peter Kelly, Tony Bland , Michael David Kelly , Paul David Brady , Carl David Lewis , Andrew Mark Brookes , David William Mather, Carl Brown , Brian Christopher Mathews, David Steven Brown , Francis Joseph McAllister, Henry Thomas Burke , John McBrien , Peter Andrew Burkett , Marion Hazel McCabe, Paul William Carlile , Joseph Daniel McCarthy , Raymond Thomas Chapman , Peter McDonnell , Gary Christopher Church , Alan McGlone , Joseph Clark , Keith McGrath, Paul Clark , Paul Brian Murray , Gary Collins , Lee Nicol , Stephen Paul Copoc , Stephen Francis O'Neill , Tracey Elizabeth Cox , Jonathon Owens, James Philip Delaney , William Roy Pemberton , Christopher Barry Devonside , Carl William Rimmer , Christopher Edwards , David George Rimmer , Vincent Michael Fitzsimmons , Graham John Roberts , Thomas Steven Fox ,Steven Joseph Robinson , Jon-Paul Gilhooley , Henry Charles Rogers , Barry Glover , Colin Andrew Hugh William Sefton , Ian Thomas Glover , Inger Shah , Derrick George Godwin , Paula Ann Smith , Roy Harry Hamilton , Adam Edward Spearritt , Philip Hammond , Philip John Steele , Eric Hankin , David Leonard Thomas , Gary Harrison , Patrik John Thompson , Stephen Francis Harrison , Peter Reuben Thompson , Peter Andrew Harrison , Stuart Paul William Thompson , David Hawley , Peter Francis Tootle, James Robert Hennessy, Paul Anthony Hewitson, Martin Kevin Traynor, Carl Darren Hewitt , Kevin Tyrrell , Nicholas Michael Hewitt , Colin Wafer , Sarah Louise Hicks, Ian David Whelan,Victoria Jane Hicks , Martin Kenneth Wild , Gordon Rodney Horn , Kevin Daniel Williams ,Arthur Horrocks , Graham John Wright
May their soul Rest in Peace.
You will never walk alone.
-ajibynwa-
