On July 22, at 10:43 AM, a "stampede accident" suddenly occurred at the Bird's Nest on the stairs between the third floor and the ground floor after the end of a game. About 200 "injured" audience members were trapped on the stairs.

This scenario was a contingency event and medical rehearsal done by medical staff of the Beijing health system, in view of a possible mass stampede happening at an Olympic venue.

Within minutes of the accident, five nearby medical volunteers appeared on the spot, and, following them, a group of emergency medical personnel gathered with a stretcher and other medical devices. Meanwhile, the command center received the alarm and quickly ordered emergency vehicles at the venues to standby. Emergency personnel on the scene worked in an orderly fashion. Some evacuated audience members; others checked the extent of the injuries by distinguishing between death, critical injuries, severe injuries and minor injuries, giving them respectively different colored cards: black, red, yellow and green.

At the same time, medical personnel set up provisional triage areas marked by different colors. Nine "dead" people were put into the black region, 20 "critically injured" people were put into the red region and 50 "injured" people were put into yellow region. After simple medical treatment, these 70 people were sent to designated hospitals.

From the beginning of the accident to the evacuation of the first "injured" person, it only took six minutes. And in half an hour, all of the 200 "injured" audience members received emergency medical treatment.

(China.org.cn by Ma Yujia July 23, 2008)