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Dublin: 13 °C Monday 20 May, 2013

In photos: What happened at Hillsborough on 15 April 1989

Relatives of the 96 people who died at Hillsborough today got to see previously unseen documents about what happened at the stadium.

TWENTY THREE YEARS after it happened, relatives of the people who died in the Hillsborough disaster were today given access to previously unseen documents about what happened on the day.

Victims’ families have campaigned for more than twenty years for the Cabinet documents to be released, believing that they shed new light on the events of the day.

The report of the Hillsborough Independent Panel revealed that some of the deaths could have been avoided and that police and the ambulance service altered statements after the disaster in order to deflect blame away from their staff and onto fans.

96 football fans died at the 1989 FA  Cup semi-final between Liverpool and Nottingham Forest at the Sheffield Wednesday ground on 15 April 1989. These photographs show the panic and confusion in Hillsborough that day as the scale of the tragedy became clear.

Some readers may find these images distressing

In photos: What happened at Hillsborough on 15 April 1989
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    Fans try to get away from the crush of the crowd as they pour into the ground (Photo: Ross Kinnaird/EMPICS Sport)
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    Aid is given to a injured fan by the police (Photo: Ross Kinnaird/EMPICS Sport)
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    Fans & Police use boards to carry away the injured (Photo: Ross Kinnaird/EMPICS Sport)
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    Fans receive attention on the pitch. (Photo: David and John Giles/PA Wire)
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    St John Ambulance Brigade members attend to one of the injured at Hillsborough (Photo: David and John Giles/PA Wire)
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    Fans try to escape severe overcrowding. (Photo: David Giles/PA Wire)
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    An injured fans lies on the Hillsbrough pitch (Phil O'Brien/EMPICS Sport)
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    Fans crushed against the fence at Hillsborough. (Photo: David Giles/PA Wire)
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    Fans use boards to carry away the injured. (Photo: Ross Kinnaird/EMPICS Sport)
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    Liverpool goalkeeper Bruce Grobbelaar looks around the ground in disbelief as the tragic events unfold around him (Photo: Ross Kinnaird/EMPICS Sport)
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    Liverpool goalkeeper Bruce Grobbelaar (r) and Alan Hansen (6) can only watch as the tragic events unfold around them. (Photo: Ross Kinnaird/EMPICS Sport)
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    St John's Ambulance volunteers tend to injured fans on the pitch (Phil O'Brien/EMPICS Sport)
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    Injured fans on advertising boards wait to be taken to hospital. (Photo: PA Wire)
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    Ambulance Crews & Police take the injured away (Ross Kinnaird/EMPICS Sport)
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    A Liverpool fan at Hillsborough after the match. (Photo: John Giles/PA Wire)
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    Supporters hold scarves before the pitch filled with flowers at Anfield at a ceremony to remember victims of Hillsborough (Photo: Eric Shaw/PA Archive/Press Association Images)
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    Thousands of supporters gather at Anfield around a pitch full of flowers for a ceremony of remembrance on 22 April 1989 for victims of Hillsborough (Photo: PA/PA Archive/Press Association Images)
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    Floral tributes at the gate of the Hillsborough ground the day after the tragedy (Photo: PA/PA Archive/Press Association Images)
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    Flowers at Anfield (Photo: AP Photo/Peter Kemp)

Photo: The front page of today’s Liverpool Echo is a powerful one >

Read: Search for justice and the ‘truthful truth’: Hillsborough panel to publish findings >

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