Chicago Nightclub Stampede Kills 21

At least 21 people died in a crowded Chicago nightclub early this morning after the release of anti-attacker spray triggered a stampede for the exits.

Someone in the two-storey Epitome nightclub on the city's South Side used pepper spray or Mace, reportedly to break up a fight between three women, some time after 2am (0800 GMT). Clubbers panicked and stormed for the doors, trampling and suffocating others inside the packed building.

"Everybody smashed; people crying, couldn't breathe," said Reggie Clark, who was among the approximately 1,500 people in the club at the time. "Two ladies next to me died. A guy under me passed out."

Police officer Ozzie Rodriguez said: "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."

Twenty-one people were confirmed dead, Chicago police spokesman Pat Camden said. Fire commander Will Knight said the total number of injuries was unclear because many of those with minor injuries were taken to hospitals by family and friends.

Cory Thomas, 33, went to the club at about 3am 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. She was in bad shape. I saw at least 10 lifeless bodies," Mr Thomas added.

Kristy Mitchell, 22, was trampled on the stairs.

"People were stomping my legs," she said. "When they pulled me up, I was dizzy and I couldn't breathe."

The incident is one of the deadliest such incidents in the US. In December 1991, nine young people were crushed to death in a gymnasium stairwell while waiting for a celebrity basketball game in New York. In December 1979, 11 people were killed in Cincinnati during a crush before a concert by rock band The Who.