A Chinese furniture shopping mall which invited the public to release butterflies back to nature has seen the event ended up in a complete opposite direction – hundreds of colourful creatures were stamped to death by onlookers who hoped to capture them . The mall held the ceremony at a park in Chengdu , regional capital of Sichuan Province in central China . More than 10 boxes of butterflies were flown to Chengdu on the same day from Yunnan in southern China . Organisers said they have rescued the injured butterflies and will take good care of them . Tragedy : Hundreds of butterflies were stamped to death during an event to release them back into the wild . Set free : 10 families were selected from thousands of in the crowd to release the butterflies from shoe boxes . Keen participants : The butterflies were transported in the cardboard boxes from Yunnan Province on the same day . As soon as they were let into the air , crowd started chasing and trying to capture them . The ceremony , named 'Freeing of Butterflies ' , attracted thousands of Chengdu citizens who eagerly awaited the release of the insects . Ten families were selected from thousands in the crowd to release the butterflies into the air . However , after the butterflies were released , many of them settled on the large stage . This resulted in excited onlookers and their children chasing and trying to capture the butterflies with many people treading on them without realising . Eventually there were shouted warnings that the butterflies were being trampled underfoot , but it came too late for hundreds of squashed creatures . Picture time : Some participants were so busy taking photos that they did n't realise many butterflies had been stamped to death on the ground . Organisers said some butterflies failed to take off properly because they had just arrived from tropical Yunnan where the temperature was higher than Chengdu and so they were slightly sleepy . Event staff picked up as many of the grounded insects as they could and put them back into their boxes to be returned to a sanctuary . A similar incident happened last autumn in Xinxiang in central China . Thousands of butterflies were crushed or injured when they were released back to the wild during a commercial event . Aftermath : Although some butterflies were set free successfully , many were killed in this event . Organisers said they have rescued as many as possible and would looked after them well .
More than 10 boxes of butterflies were flown to Chengdu for the event . Excited onlookers tried to capture the insects the minute they were let out . Many butterflies failed to fly away and were trampled in the melee .