German police say warnings not heeded on Love Parade

They died when panic broke out at the techno music festival on Saturday in the western city near to the Dutch border. Many Germans were baffled that such a tragedy could occur in their highly organised and closely regulated country.

Chancellor Angela Merkel expects a "scrupulously thorough" investigation into the tragedy, her spokesman Ulrich Wilhelm said in Berlin. Authorities raised the number of injured to 511 -- with 43 seriously hurt and one in critical condition.

"I warned them a year ago that Duisburg is not a suitable location for the Love Parade. It's too small and too cramped," Rainer Wendt, a senior police officer and head of the national police union, told Germany's biggest selling newspaper Bild.

Duisburg Mayor Adolf Sauerland, who had to be protected from angry bystanders at the scene of the stampede on Sunday, said the city was cooperating with prosecutors.

"We'll give answers as soon as we've given answers to the state prosecutor," Sauerland told WDR radio. "The whole city is in mourning. We'll help clarify what happened. We did everything we could to make it a safe venue."