MEXICO CITY, July 1 (Reuters) - Four people died, three of asphyxiation, during late night street celebrations in Mexico City after hundreds of thousands of fans gathered along the capital's main central avenue as Mexico beat Ecuador to win their first World Cup knockout match in 40 years.
Mexico City's department of health said in the early hours of Wednesday that emergency teams had tended to three unconscious people at different locations around Paseo de la Reforma, the emblematic boulevard along which giant screens had been set up showing the match.
A 19-year-old woman and a 44-year-old man received advanced resuscitation efforts but died of suffocation, the health authority said. A third person, a 48-year-old woman, later died in hospital also of asphyxiation.
Authorities later reported a fourth fatality, a man in his 30s who was taken to hospital suffering from severe seizures and gastrointestinal bleeding. He died after a cardiac arrest.
The tragedy occurred after crowds had continued to grow with each Mexican victory as the team progressed through the tournament the soccer-mad country is hosting for the first time since 1986, this year jointly with the U.S. and Canada.
Mexico City had in recent weeks banned alcohol sales on Mexico match days as well as increased the number of screens, and the space between them, in an attempt to improve safety. On Tuesday, more than 2 kilometers of Paseo de la Reforma were closed to traffic and dotted with giant screens showing the match. The city government said around a million people had gathered in the capital.
CROWD PANIC LED TO CRUSH, LOCAL MEDIA REPORTS
Local newspaper El Universal reported that the deadly crowd crush had been triggered by pyrotechnics which had caused panic, with people starting to run and some falling and being trampled.
Patricia Garcia, a 54-year-old housewife, told Reuters amid the crowds in the early hours of Wednesday morning that she was delighted by the Mexican victory but that things were getting out of hand.
"I don't agree with excessive celebrations. You can't let it affect others. Freedom has its limits, and those limits are where another person's freedom begins," she said.
Videos shared on social media showed chaotic scenes. One clip which appeared to be recorded near the iconic Angel monument on Paseo de la Reforma showed people trapped and unable to move as the momentum of a dense crowd pushed and swayed. Other clips showed groups of fans punching and kicking each other near the same site, slipping to the ground covered in cans, bottles, foam and spilled alcohol.
President Claudia Sheinbaum said the Attorney General's office would investigate what went wrong and authorities would evaluate whether changes needed to be made ahead of Mexico's last-16 match against England on Sunday.
"People need to celebrate responsibly," she said during her regular morning press conference.
(Reporting by Aida Pelaez-Fernandez, Diego Ore, Cassandra Garrison, Raul Cortes, Ana Isabel Martinez and Fabiola Arámburo; Editing by Stephen Eisenhammer, Clare Fallon and Ed Osmond)
