At the end of the show an announcement was made that children with certain numbered tickets would be presented with a prize upon exit. At the same time entertainers began distributing gifts from the stage to the children in the stalls. Worried about missing out on the treats, many of the estimated 1.100 children in the gallery stampeded toward the staircase leading downstairs. With the compressive asphyxia of 183 children between 3 and 14 years old the disaster is the worst of its kind in British history.