Bieber swarm crush in Australia sends 8 to hospital

Thousands of frenzied teenagers, who spent the night camped out by Sydney Harbour awaiting a concert by pop star Justin Bieber, surged toward the venue yesterday morning, with the crush sending at least eight girls to the hospital, The Associated Press reports.

Police canceled the performance after the swarm, which may have begun when rumors spread among the 5,000 fans that the Canadian heartthrob had arrived early. In the frenzy, at least 10 girls fainted, and paramedics had to pull them out of the crowd, according to Australia's Network Seven. Of the eight sent to the hospital, one had a fractured her kneecap. Most had hyperventilated.

"We were expecting this to be the biggest concert we ever had, but we just couldn't have foreseen this scale," said Grant Denyer, weather anchor for Network Seven's Sunrise program, which was planning to broadcast the open-air concert.

Police said the TV station was well prepared, but that the fans got out of control.