21 killed in nightclub crush

A FIGHT between two girls led to the deaths of at least 21 people who were crushed as they tried to flee a Chicago nightclub yesterday.

Hundreds of screaming guests rushed to the exit of the packed club after someone set off a chemical spray during the fight.

"Everybody smashed, people crying, couldn't breathe," said clubber Reggie Clark. "Two ladies next to me died. A guy under me passed out."

Twenty-one people were confirmed dead, said Chicago Police spokesman Pat Camden said. There were more than 1,500 people crammed into the two storey Epitome Night Club on when someone released pepper spray or Mace into the air sometime after 2am (0800 GMT), said Fire Commander Will Knight.

"It appears a disturbance from within led to a mass chaos where people headed for the door. Most of the fatalities appear to have been crushed or had injuries due to suffocation," said police Officer Ozzie Rodriguez.

Cory Thomas, 33, went to the club to pick up two friends. As he waited outside, he saw people inside the club start to back up against the glass front door.

"You could see a mound of people. People were stacking on top of each other, screaming and gagging, I guess from the pepper spray. The door got blocked because there were too many people stacked up against it," he said.

"I saw them taking out a pregnant woman," Thomas said. "She was in bad shape. I saw at least 10 lifeless bodies."

Amishoov Blackwell, 30, was checking in his coat on the second floor when people started rushing past him. The flow of the crowd pushed him back down the stairs and he fell on top of several people, he said. He was trapped on top of the others until firefighters rescued him about 30 minutes later. "It wasn't nothing but two girls fighting," Blackwell said. "Why'd they have to spray Mace?"

One man, who gave his name only as "T," told WGN television how he bolted for the door, was knocked unconscious and woke up in a body bag.

"I ran to the door. I tried to slide down the rail. The last thing I remember is getting hit by a guy who must have weighed 300 lbs, and the next thing I know I woke up in a body bag."

Paramedics had apparently mistaken the man for a casualty.

In 1991, nine people were crushed to death in a gymnasium stairwell fora basketball game in New York.