One person has been taken out of critical condition and all the other injured from a stampede in a Carrefour outlet in southwest China are recovering well, officials said Sunday.

Three people have been discharged from the hospital after receiving medical treatment, according to an official of the Shapingba district government of Chongqing Municipality. The stampede took place early on Saturday morning when the Carrefour outlet in Shapingba was holding a sales promotion activity. Hordes of people stormed into the store's entrance when the shop opened, causing a stampede.

Three people were killed and 31 others were injured in the accident.

The outlet has suspended business as ordered and is under investigated. The shop will not be reopened until a thorough investigation into the stampede has been completed and measures to improve conditions are enacted, according to the official.

Carrefour's representative in China arrived in Chongqing on Sunday to meet and cooperate with the local government regarding an investigation into the accident and compensation for the victims.

A three-day promotion at the outlet in the Shapingba District was launched on Friday to celebrate the 10th anniversary of Carrefour's presence in the city.

People began queuing at the entrance around 4:00 AM Saturday, waiting to buy a cooking oil product offered at a big discount, said Gao Chang, spokesman for the government of Shapingba District.

The shop offered a deduction of 11.5 yuan (US$1.5) from the original price of 51.4 yuan (US$6.9) for a bottle of five-liter oil.

At around 8:40 AM when the shop started its business, throngs of people burst in and a mass stampede occurred.

He Yu, one of the shoppers combating for the cooking oil, got his face and hands bruised in the stampede.

"I rushed to the oil shelf with other people and grabbed four bottles. Suddenly I tripped and stumbled on the floor. Luckily I got hold of another person and escaped from being crashed," the young man said.

The Shapingba outlet, covering a business area of 7,000 square meters, opened in May of last year. It is the fourth Carrefour outlet in Chongqing, and the 75th in China.

(Xinhua News Agency November 12, 2007)