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17 dead in stampede at Angolan football stadium

By AFP
11 February 2017   |   4:00 am
At least 17 football fans died in a stampede at a stadium in northern Angola on Friday, police said, adding that scores of other spectators were injured, some of them seriously.

Panic spread through the crowd at a football match in the town of Uige, Angola, resulting in a stampede that caused the death of at least 17 people, police said ©ISSOUF SANOGO (AFP/File)<br />

At least 17 football fans died in a stampede at a stadium in northern Angola on Friday, police said, adding that scores of other spectators were injured, some of them seriously.

Panic spread through the crowd at the match in the town of Uige between Santa Rita de Cassia and Recreativo de Libolo in Angola’s domestic league season.

“There was a blockage at the entrance to the January 4 stadium… this obstruction caused multiple fatalities — 17 deaths, and there are 56 injured in the hospital,” police spokesman Orlando Bernardo told AFP.

He added that there were an unknown number of children among the dead, and that hospitals were still treating those injured.

Police said hundreds of fans had tried to enter the already packed stadium to see the match, causing a crush that pushed some people to the ground.

Many of the dead were trampled on or suffocated.

In 2009, poor crowd control in Abidjan caused 19 deaths before a 2010 World Cup qualifier between hosts Ivory Coast and Malawi.

A stampede at the Accra Sports Stadium in Ghana in 2001 resulted in 127 deaths.

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