![]() ![]() He added that ''the younger ones could escape'' onto the field, ''but the older ones were not so fleet of foot.'' ![]() The majority of those hospitalized ''appear to be elderly,'' a Health Authority spokesman said. In a stiff breeze, it took only four minutes for the blaze, which began in one corner of the stands, to sweep the entire structure, which was packed for the season's final match. ''If we left the gates open before halftime,'' he said, ''people who had not paid to come in would get in. Stafford Heginbotham, chairman of the Bradford City soccer club, said it was not unusual for the gates to be padlocked at a game. Some fans, panic-stricken and their clothes ablaze, leaped onto the field and tried to break through the locked gates. Elderly people were thrown over the front of the stands as the police and spectators tried to smother the victims' burning clothes with coats and scarves. Some, including children, died in their seats. John Domaille, a West Yorkshire police official, estimated the dead at 40. Falling debris set fire to the hair of some rescuers. Within moments, he said, ''it was like a furnace.''Ī fleet of 14 ambulances arrived as policemen and spectators tried to pull people clear. ''We could then see the flames creeping along the bottom of the seats.'' ''I thought someone had let off a smoke bomb,'' one spectator said. ![]()
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