Africa's worst sports tragedy stuns Ghana
May 10 2001 at 02:01PM
Accra - In Africa's worst-ever sports disaster, at least 130 people died in a stampede at an Accra football stadium after police fired tear gas on a group of rioting fans, officials said Thursday.
President John Kufuor was due on Thursday to hold an emergency meeting to look into whether police overreaction sparked Wednesday's disaster - the fourth such incident to rock the continent in a month.
Government spokesperson Elisabeth Ohene said: "It looks like the police may have overreacted but a committee of enquiry will be set up.
Sources said Kufuor was expected to announce a week of national mourning with flags to fly at half-mast.
The tragedy occurred late Wednesday after a 2-1 victory by reigning league champions Hearts of Oak. Supporters of arch rivals Kumasi Ashanti Kotoko began to rip up seats at the Accra Sports stadium, hurling them onto the pitch.
In an attempt to quell the unrest, police fired rounds of tear gas into the stand where the fans were rioting, sparking a stampede.
The crowd panicked and many were crushed underfoot, unable to escape the trouble and tear gas as the gates were locked shut in the 30 000-capacity stadium, the Joy FM radio reported.
Ghana's Inspector-General of Police, E Owusu Poku, said: "It is very regrettable what happened and we are going to set up our own internal committee of enquiry. Anybody found to be responsible will be duly punished."
Witnesses blamed the police action for starting the fatal stampede during the derby match between the country's two biggest clubs.
Kufuor, who visited the military hospital overnight, was said to be "totally devastated" by the tragedy, his press spokesperson said.
Ebenezer Kofi Owusu, one of the lucky ones to escape unscathed, said: "The trouble started five minutes to the end of the match when supporters of Asante Kotoko supporters, who felt that the Hearts' second goal was unfair ... started breaking the plastic chairs and throwing them onto the field.
"I got out and started running with other people trying to leave. The problem was compounded when the flood lights were put off for the first 10 minutes when the trouble started.
"Many of the exit gates were locked," he said.
Owusu said many thieves and pickpockets were "going through the pockets of the dead, removing mobile phones and money."
National dailies on Thursday reflected the national shock.
The Daily Graphic lead story was headlined "120 fans perish in worst national disaster," while the Ghanaian Chronicle said: "Black Wednesday - 130 crushed in tragic huddle of death."
Meanwhile, several supporters of Asante Kotoko were streaming into Accra from the central city of Kumasi, 272 kilometres north of the capital, to enquire about friends or relatives who had come to watch the match.
The Accra disaster was the fourth incident of its kind in Africa in less than a month.
In Ivory Coast at the weekend, incidents between supporters and police led to one death and 39 injuries at the Houphouet-Boigny stadium in Abidjan.
At least 10 people were killed and 51 injured on April 29
during a match at Lubumbashi, in the south east of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), according to official figures.
At Ellis Park stadium in Johannesburg, a stampede caused 43 deaths and 160 injuries on April 11 when a mass of ticketless supporters pushed their way into the stadium already packed full with more than 60 000 spectators for the derby match between Orlando Pirates and Kaizer Chiefs.
- Sapa-AFP
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