MORE than 1,500 people were injured when panic swept through a crowd of Juventus fans watching the Champions League final in a piazza in the northern Italian city of Turin, authorities said yesterday.

The Turin prefect said in a statement that the crowd “was taken by panic and by the psychosis of a terror attack,” fearing that a loud noise was caused by attackers.

The source of the loud noise that triggered the stampede remained unclear, officials said. Italian media has speculated it may have been a firecracker.

The noise triggered panic among thousands of fans gathered in Piazza San Carlo to watch the match pitting Juventus against Real Madrid on giant TV screens. Fans were trampled as they tried to flee.

Most of the injured were treated for cuts and light contusions. Three, including a young boy, were in serious condition, officials said.

“At that moment, I saw the entire piazza went in the direction next to the screen to escape, all in a panic,” said The Associated Press reporter Brian Hendrie, who was at the scene. He added that some in the piazza thought a bomb had gone off, while others thought the loud noise was a gunshot.

(SD-Agencies)