POLICE are appealing for witnesses after a conga line collision resulted in the deaths of 37 people during a retirement party.
The pile-up occurred at around 9pm in the Planet Suite of High Wycombe Working Men’s Club, a period dubbed by regulars as the ‘dangerous dance’ hour.
Sales co-ordinator Eleanor Shaw, who was in the conga at the time of the collision, said: “We’d done the chicken dance which had been a hoot, so the natural transition was into conga mode.
“At first there were only myself and a stout gingery man still in his work shirt, but within three minutes we were a train of ninety.”
It is believed the conga circled the function room three times before heading out into the car park where it was picked up on CCTV footage.
Shaw said: “Things escalated when we got outside, we were moving so fast.
“I sensed something was wrong, but put it down to having a sweaty stranger latched onto my rear.
“Then we nearly stacked it into a recycling bin, and I realised with horror that no-one was in control.”
Horrific camera footage shows the conga clumsily spiralling in on itself before imploding with terrible force, which one bystander described as looking like Nokia Snake but with exposed broken bones.
Shaw, who has been told she may need to spend the rest of her life in a foam neck brace, added: “My heart goes out to the 37 who perished in the conga, some of them hadn’t even been up to the buffet table.”
Conga leader Stephen Malley, who also miraculously survived the crash, was found to be five times over the legal limit and now faces a lifelong ban which will exclude him from all adult group dances, such as ‘Oops Upside Your Head’ and the Macarena.
