Kiinassa 3 tallaantui kuoliaaksi

BEIJING, China (AP) -- Shoppers eager to buy goods on sale stampeded at a Carrefour supermarket in southwestern China on Saturday, trampling three people to death and injuring at least 31, state media reported.



Shoppers slipped as they rushed through a door at the Carrefour in Chongqing city at 8: 30 am to snap up sale items, and those that fell were then crushed by other shoppers, the Web sites of the Xinhua News Agency and People' s Daily reported.



The People' s Daily said the shoppers had lined up outside the store since 4 am to buy discounted rapeseed oil used for cooking.



In addition to the three dead, Xinhua said that seven among the 31 injured were seriously hurt. Police in Chongqing said they had heard about the accident but declined to independently confirm the media accounts.



Telephone calls to French-based Carrefour SA' s China headquarters in Shanghai rang unanswered.