JEDDAH, 3 September 2004 — The management of IKEA has expressed its sorrow for the fatal incident that took place during the opening of its new showroom in Jeddah on Wednesday morning.
“The management of IKEA Saudi Arabia expresses deep sorrow over the tragic incident that occurred at the opening hours of Jeddah’s new showroom and conveys its sympathies and condolences to the families of the dead,” an IKEA statement said yesterday.
The management said quoting police reports that only two men were killed in the stampede outside the showroom. The dead have been identified as Ahmed Mattar Al-Zahrani, a 33-year-old Saudi teacher, and Khaled Abdullah Bamahmoud, a 27-year-old Yemeni laborer.
Yesterday’s report, which mentioned the number of dead as three, was based on information given by a Saudi Red Crescent source. Sixteen other shoppers received treatment for their injuries and were discharged from hospitals. Three fatigue cases at the stampede were treated on the spot.
The Swedish furniture showroom presented a scene of hectic activity on the second day of its opening with continuous streams of shoppers, especially families, yesterday. “I know something happened here, but I don’t care and want to see what’s new,” said Ahmed Abu Nasser, a 40-yar-old Saudi business executive, who was there with his family.
The IKEA management was busy throughout yesterday further streamlining its safety and security procedures. A senior management executive showed the steel barricade that was placed at the showroom’s main entrance to regulate the queue, which had been reduced to pieces in the stampede.
“As the main door opened around 9 a.m., an hour before the scheduled time because of the swelling crowd, those standing toward the end of the queue caused the stampede by pushing their way toward the main entrance,” Amin M. Jamal, executive vice president of IKEA-Ghassan Ahmed AlSulaiman Co. Ltd., told Arab News.
“People at the tail end of the crowd turned ‘adventurous’ when they found there were no prospects of getting close to the door. They pushed their way by jumping over others in front and even trampling upon those who lost their balance and lay on the ground,” Jamal said.
All security arrangements were in place, he claimed, as a big crowd was anticipated. “However, in spite of the arrangements made by our own security and official agencies that were tried and tested in the past few weeks, the fatal incident took pace, which we regret. Fortunately, no child was involved in the stampede. We take full responsibility for the unfortunate incident if it is found that it happened due to our safety and security lapses,” Jamal said.
The IKEA management expected 3,000 to 5,000 shoppers to visit the showroom for its opening. “We didn’t expect 20,000, especially as it was a working day and the morning was hot and humid,” he said, adding that the turnout was big because of the Swedish furniture company’s “popularity and reputation.”
A cross-section of people interviewed said they were “upset and disappointed” by the news of fatal stampede. Some even disputed the kind of offer made by the showroom for its opening.
“Instead of offering cash vouchers to the first 250 people visiting the new showroom, the management could have come up with some other offers like hefty discounts for the first few buyers or cash vouchers for lucky draw winners,” said Abdullah Muhammad Hafiz, a Saudi marketing executive.
“Of course, there are many ways of offering discounts and prizes,” Jamal said. “Man learns from experience. We now have a case to evaluate and analyze on which to organize ourselves in the future,” he said in the context of the stampede.
