SEOUL, Sept. 4 (Xinhuanet) -- Organizers and police, failing to take adequate safety measures for a music concert Monday, have been blamed for a stampede tragedy occurred in a South Korean provincial city, in which 11 people were killed and 96 others injured, investigators said on Tuesday.

    The organizers expected about 20,000 people to attend the free-of-charge concert at a public outdoor stadium in Sangju, about 270 kilometers southeast of Seoul, but only deployed eight safety staffs at the stadium to keep order, investigators said.

    Although there were 15 police officers and about 100 employees of the organizing company at the stadium, all were placed near thestage, not the main entrances of the stadium, to safeguard VIPs coming to watch the concert, South Korean Yonhap News Agency quoted police investigators as saying.

    The organizing company was reportedly managed by a brother-in-law of Sangju Mayor Kim Keun-soo, which was said to have no experience of organizing such big event.

    While, the organizers complained local police refused their request of 230 officers to the event, citing shortage of manpower.

    However, local police officials rejected such claim, saying they never officially received such a request, reported Yonhap.

    The accident occurred when organizers allowed concert-goers to enter the stadium only through one of four main gates on the firstfloor late afternoon Monday.

    Most of the 10,000 local people tried to enter through the gateto get first rows of the seats, although there were two other gates open on the second floor.

    Shortly after the gate on the first floor was opened, people surged forward to get a better seat, causing others in front of them to fall and be trampled, according to witnesses and police.

    Most of the victims were elderly people and children who were standing at the front of the crowd.

    Police also said the organizers did not report safety measures to local fire-fighting authorities ahead of the concert, which wasin violation of a related law. That made it impossible for the authorities to deploy first-aid officials around the stadium as part of precautionary measures, serving to increase the death toll.

    The South Korean domestic TV network MBC, which was to tape andbroadcast the concert for its weekly music program, also expressedits condolences to the victims and said it would discuss compensation for the victims with Sangju City officials.

    The music concert, which was canceled, was originally a part ofa local three-day festival aimed at promoting the use of bicycles out of concern for the environment. Sangju, a city of 120,000 people, has the nation's highest per-capita bicycle ownership.

    South Korean people were on their three-day holiday from last Saturday. Monday is the National Foundation Day of South Korea, which marked the 4,337th anniversary of the accession of King Dangun, who according to legend was the founder of the first Korean dynasty. Enditem