Argentina: 2 dead and a dozen injured in stampede at Indio Solari rock concert

Stampede at a rock concert in Argentina's Buenos Aires province killed two people and left a dozen others injured. The chaos was reportedly due to mismanagement at the over-packed concert venue.

More than 300,000 Indio Solari fans had gathered for the Saturday (11 March) night concert in the town of Olavarria.

Witnesses reportedly said that the overwhelming crowd turnout was because of the lack of management by the organisers who allegedly let anyone through the gates into the concert without checking tickets.

Olavarria Mayor Ezequiel Galli told a news conference on Sunday (12 March) that they were expecting around 160,000 to 170,000 but double the number attended the concert, leading to a "total chaos". He said that the open-air concert was attended by roughly 350,000 people.

"What happened was total chaos. It just got away from us. No one imagined that this many people would show up," he noted. The mayor added that by mid-afternoon, there were some 100,000 vehicles – one for every city resident – at the show, Reuters wrote.

Solari too had to halt his performance several times to urge security members to attend to the people trapped and being knocked at the stampede.

Galli confirmed that two people were dead and 12 others were hospitalized following the stampede, according to the Associated Press. He also informed that extra buses were arranged with the help of the army and other agencies to transport the fans out of the concert.

The transportation services in the city of about 120,000 was also thrown out of gear due to the mad rush to Solari's concert – a rare event for the people in Olavarria.