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Death Toll Now 126 From Stadium Tragedy


At least 126 soccer fans have been confirmed dead from Wednesday's stampede at the Accra Sports Stadium during the Premier League match between Hearts of Oak and arch rivals, Asante Kototo.
More than 50 people are also on admission but in stable condition at various hospitals.

Hospital sources told the Ghana News Agency (GNA) that there were 102 bodies at the 37 Military Hospital, 13 at the Ridge Hospital, six at the Police Hospital, three at Korle Bu and one each at the Trust Hospital and La Polyclinic.

The stampede occurred when police fired teargas into the stand at the 40,000-capacity Stadium.
Kwabena Agyapong, Deputy government spokesman said Thursday that arrangements for identification of the bodies would begin after the hospital authorities have completed post-mortem examinations.

The government has solicited the assistance of the military authorities to control the identification process, which is expected to be emotional, and appealed to relatives to exercise restraint and co-operate.

Agyapong, in an interview with Joy FM radio, said religious groups have also been contacted to counsel and console traumatised relatives.

"It is important that we should console... and pray for them and make them feel that they are not alone at this tragic moment," he said, adding that a help-line would be opened for families whose relatives were at the Stadium.

Agyapong, who said he was at the Stadium during the match expressed shock at the heavy casualty.
President John Agyekum Kufuor has visited the military hospital and appealed for calm.

An emergency cabinet meeting has been called for Thursday by the President, who has cancelled all official engagements and is scheduled to address the nation later in the day.

Reports say a few vehicles are still at the precincts of the Stadium, believed to belong to the victims.
Inspector-General of Police, Ernest Owusu Poku said he has set up a probe into the tragedy.

"I can assure you that no police officer will be shielded," the police Chief said, adding that details of the probe report would be made public.

The Ghana Football Association and Ghana League Clubs Association are holding an emergency meeting on the tragedy and whether to postpone weekend league matches.

Meanwhile, Harry Zakour, Hearts Chairman said some 20 Muslims among the victims, were being buried immediately.


Source:
Panafrican News Agency
Stadium Police Commander Indicted

The government has ordered the interdiction of the Commander of the Police Contingent on duty at the Accra Sports Stadium during the Accra Hearts of Oak/Asante Kotoko league encounter, which resulted in the death of 126 soccer fans.

The tragedy, which is the worst in the continent’s history, occurred when the Police fired volleys of tear gas into the north wing of the stadium in an attempt to control rioting fans who were ripping of the stadium plastic seats and hurling them onto the pitch. In a bid to escape the fumes, the fans stampeded towards exits, which were reported to be locked at the time, and trampled hundreds of people in their bid to escape.

In an interview with the BBC, the Government Spokesperson, Mrs. Elizabeth Ohene, said that following a cabinet meeting held this morning, the government has ordered three days of national mourning while a committee of enquiry has been launched into the incident. Meanwhile the President has cancelled all his engagements in order to handle the disaster.

The acting Inspector General of Police, Mr. Ernest Osei-Poku has already formed an internal enquiry within the police service to find out what actually happened at the stadium. He added that he would not shield any of his personnel who are found to be guilty.

Meanwhile, Parliament has suspended sitting Thursday May 10 out of respect for the bereaved families. The deputy Majority leader, Papa Owus-Ankomah MP Sekondi called all Ghanaians to resolve to take steps to ensure that never again should such a thing happen in this country.

He expressed the House's condolences to the bereaved families and congratulated the health workers and all Ghanaians who helped in one way or the other in this national disaster.

The Member for Ningo Prampram and Minority Spokesman on Youth and Sports, E.T. Mensah, called on the to ensure that proper steps are taken to prevent recurrence of this unfortunate incident.

Source:
GNA
Government should investigate conducts of policemen-GBA


The Ghana Bar Association (GBA) condemned the action of police personnel during Wednesday's match between Accra Hearts of Oak and Kumasi Asante Kotoko at the Accra Sports Stadium.

It therefore called on the President, Mr John Agyekum Kufuor to set up a presidential commission to investigate the causes of the police actions and come out with recommendations to prevent such future occurrences.

In a statement jointly signed by Mr J. Ebow Quarshie, President and Mr J.Ayiku Otoo National in Accra, the GBA wondered why a simple issue of spectator reaction at the stadium could have attracted the firing of several tear gases into the crowd.

'' The police were sent to the stadium to prevent crowd violence and not to create an unnecessary panicky situation as they did by firing tear gas into a crowd without adequate escape route.'' The GBA has, therefore, called for the interdiction of the policemen and their superiors who were on duty at the sports stadium whiles investigations proceed.

The association extended its condolences to the bereaved families and assured the public of its readiness to provide any legal assistance they will require free of charge.

Source:
NCS Ashanti Chief Dies In Stadium Disaster


One of the chiefs on the Asantehene's entourage to the USA is reported to be among the 124 spectators who died in Wednesday's disaster at the Accra Sports Stadium when arch rivals, Kumasi Asante Kotoko played against Accra Hearts of Oak.

Authorities at the Police Hospital where the body of the chief is being kept were reportedly tight lipped on the name of the chief because of custom and tradition that goes with the announcement of the death of chiefs, particularly Ashantis.

Brigadier Seth Twum, director of Health services at the 37 Military Hospital, told newsmen that a post mortem would be conducted on all the bodies after which they would be embalmed and kept in the mortuary to await government's directives.


Source:
Evening News
Fans fought for lives

ACCRA, Ghana (AP) - Thomas Akazara went to the soccer game hoping his team would win, but after a stampede unleashed Africa's worst sports tragedy ever he prayed to live - at one point sticking his head through a stairway railing for air as fans lay dead or dying on top of him.

Ghana's military said 123 people died Wednesday at Accra Stadium in Ghana's capital, where stairs leading to the stands were still stained with blood on Thursday.

Survivors say the disaster began when police fired tear gas at fans who were throwing bottles and chairs on the field, sending a panicked crowd stampeding to the main gates, only to find them locked.

It was the fourth soccer tragedy to strike Africa in a month and Ghana's government declared three days of national mourning.

"It was so bad, we couldn't stand it. We just thought we were doomed," Akazara, 39, told The Associated Press from his mattress on a hospital floor. He had a fractured shoulder and cuts on his legs and face.

Hometown team Accra Hearts of Oak was leading 2-1 against Asante Kotoko of Kumasi with five minutes left when Asante supporters began throwing objects onto the field at the 45,000-capacity stadium. The main gates were locked, apparently to keep more fans from coming in.

As the stampede grew, Akazara struggled up a crowded stairway. He tripped and fell. Others tried to help him, but the crush of people kept pushing from behind.

Soon, others had fallen on top of Akazara.

"There was no breathing and there was no way out. After 20 minutes, I was gasping for air. I even said my last prayer," he said.

He survived by sticking his head through the staircase railings for air.

"We stayed there for almost one hour and 30 minutes without any help. Some of the people who were lying on top of me could not get fresh air and died."

Outside the hospital Thursday, distraught families waited. Officials read a list of the injured, and military police escorted relatives in groups of 20 to a notice board outside the morgue to look through pictures of the dead.

A woman collapsed with grief, sobbing and screaming the name of her 22-year-old niece, Charity, when she spotted her photograph.

The bodies were later placed on the floor of a large, air-conditioned room through which relatives passed, crying and wailing amid the overpowering stench.

Police launched an internal probe into the disaster Thursday, in addition to the government investigation. The police officer in charge of the security at the stadium was suspended.

Many Ghanaians said police overreacted.

"You have killed us. What do you want here again?" one youth shouted as angry crowds jeered at police standing outside the hospital morgue.

President John Kufuor cancelled his engagements Thursday and summoned the cabinet for an emergency session.

The government was also setting up a committee of religious leaders to console the bereaved families and a funeral committee to help arrange burials.

"We must share in their grief because this is the best we can do for them at the moment," government spokesman Kwabena Agyapong said.

Ghana's soccer federation indefinitely postponed all premier league matches.

The stampede marks the fourth soccer disaster to strike Africa in the last four weeks. On April 11, 43 people were killed at a stadium in Johannesburg, South Africa. Another stampede in Lubumbashi, Congo, on April 29 left eight people dead. And on May 6, fighting broke out among fans at a soccer match in Ivory Coast, killing one person and injuring 39.

The latest sports disaster, coupled with long-standing concerns over stadium safety, cast doubts over African hopes to host the 2010 World Cup, the world's biggest sporting event after the Olympic Games.

But Andreas Herren, spokesman for soccer's Swiss-based governing body, FIFA, said the tragedy should not rule out the continent as a candidate to host the World Cup.

"The fact that there has been a rise in such disasters in Africa is of course a cause for concern," he said in Zurich, Switzerland. "But that doesn't mean Africa won't be considered."

Source:
AP
Ghana Moves to Douse Anger After Stadium Carnage



Ghana's President John Kufuor has moved to douse smoldering anger against police after a soccer stampede that left at least 126 dead in Africa's worst football tragedy.
Police fired shots in the air on Thursday to drive off a mob that attacked a police station in Accra, apparently bent on revenge over Wednesday's stampede which survivors blamed on security forces for firing teargas in the packed stadium.
``This is not the time to apportion blame or seek scapegoats. Let us not rush to judgement,'' Kufuor said in a national broadcast on Thursday night.
The six officers in command at the stadium on Wednesday were to be investigated over their role in the deadly stampede after the match between Ghana's biggest soccer teams degenerated into the third worst soccer disaster of modern times.
The stampede was Africa's third deadly stadium disaster in a month and cast a shadow over the soccer-mad continent's expectation that it would host the World Cup finals in 2010.
The government announced three days of national mourning from Friday during which flags will fly at half mast, and a memorial service for all victims on Sunday.
The official toll acknowledged 126 dead in the stampede triggered by teargas police fired when fans began throwing missiles after local heroes Hearts of Oak won a 2-1 league victory over arch-rivals Asante Kotoko, from the central town of Kumasi.
Local radios said up to 130 people died, including several Muslims who were buried immediately in accordance with Islamic rites rather than being taken to morgues in Accra hospitals.
``My father... My father is inside there,'' sobbed Mohammed Abdullah Ali as he came out of a mortuary besieged by thousands of desperate relatives searching for their loved ones on Thursday.
STRUGGLE TO ESCAPE TEARGAS
Many of those lying on the blood-soaked floor of the morgue were crushed to death. Others died of suffocation in the scramble to escape from the teargas.
``There were lots of people on top of me. One guy started foaming at the mouth and another had blood coming out of his mouth,'' said Ebenezer Nortey, an electrical technician.
``It was all the fault of the police.''
Security was particularly tight before the match between two teams whose rivalry goes back decades and is steeped in political and ethnic animosities.
Both are among the biggest names in African soccer, although Hearts have in recent years taken the mantle Kotoko won in the 1950s and 1960s as one of the continent's dominant teams.
Hearts draws its support from the coastal city of Accra.
Kotoko's following is from the old Ashanti kingdom, also home to Kufuor -- a former Kotoko chairman -- who took office in January after an election seen as a beacon of hope for democracy on a continent notorious for dictatorship.
``I appeal to all of you to show restraint and calm. The eyes of the world are upon us. Let us therefore show the world we are dignified and a peace-loving people,'' Kufuor said, announcing the formation of a five-member commission of inquiry to report back in one month.
The stampede reinforced doubts over Africa's expectation that it will host the 2010 World Cup after South Africa was pipped at the post by Germany for the 2006 competition.
World soccer body FIFA warned that Africa's suitability for staging the World Cup depended on it improving stadium safety.
On April 11, 43 soccer fans were crushed to death when fans tried to force their way into Johannesburg's huge Ellis Park stadium midway through a top South African league match.
At least seven people were killed and 51 seriously injured in an April 30 stampede in the Democratic Republic of Congo after police moved to break up rioting at a match in Lubumbashi.


Source:
Reuters -By Kwaku Sakyi-Addo Guilty Will be Punished - JAK


Ghana's President John Kufuor says anyone found guilty by a government commission investigating the deadly football stadium stampede will face the full force of the law.

The stampede at the Accra Sports Stadium Wednesday killed at least 126 people.

In a broadcast speech late Thursday, President Kufuor said investigators are questioning six senior officers in charge of security at the stadium. He said the eyes of the world are on his grief-stricken country and urged calm.

Ghana has declared three days of national mourning. The government has also founded a disaster fund to help victims' families with medical and funeral expenses.

The incident occurred in the closing minutes of a key football match Wednesday between the hometown Accra Hearts of Oak and its archival, Kumasi Ashanti Kotoko. Kumasi fans threw seats and bottles after Accra took a two-to-one lead.

Witnesses say police fired tear gas to control the crowd, prompting a stampede as people ran to locked stadium gates to escape the gas. Many victims were crushed while others suffocated. The gates were locked to keep more fans out of the packed stadium.

Source:
VOA 97 Died From Suffocation


COLONEL Jaswant Mante Wadhwani, a pathologist at the 37 Military Hospital, last Friday told an Accra High Court that the major cause of death among spectators of the May 9 Accra Sports Stadium Disaster was suffocation.

Giving a breakdown of the 106 bodies on which he performed post-mortem at the 37 Military Hospital, Col. Wadhwani said 97 died of suffocation, five died as result of chest injuries, while one died of spinal injuries.

He further stated that two other persons died as result of fracture on the lower limbs while the last person died of fracture in the rib.

He explained that the suffocation occurred as result of stampede and chemicals used in dispersing the spectators.

Col. Wadhwani was testifying in the case in which six police officers are being tried on 127 counts of manslaughter.

John Asare Naami, Faakyi Kumi, Frank Awuah, Francis Aryee, Benjamin B. Bakomora, all Assistant Superintendents of Police and Koranteng Mintah, Chief Superintendent of Police, deny the charges and are on 20 million bail each with two sureties.

Col. Wadhwani, who was led in evidence by Mr Anthony Gyambiby, Principal State Attorney, said on May 9, 2001, he was not on duty but his attention was drawn to the crisis at the 37 Military Mortuary.

Witness said he proceeded to the hospital and paid attention to those who were in critical condition before turning his attention to the dead.

Col. Wadhwani said relations and friends identified the bodies before he performed post-mortem on them with assistance from one Cuban doctor.

Witness, who had earlier submitted a report to the Commission of Enquiry in Accra, tendered the report on 106 bodies to court.

During a cross-examination by Mr Atta Akyea, a defence counsel, witness agreed with counsel that he examined all of the bodies.

Col. Wadhwani agreed with counsel that there was no single bullet on them.

When counsel asked witness why the spectators died of suffocation, witness said they might have confined themselves to one area.

Witness agreed with counsel that when tear gas was released, it made it difficult for people to breathe and also it created sight problems.

Mr Agyeman Aboagye, the Cameraman of TV3, mounted the witness box following the orders of the court to appear before it or be forced to do so.

When the court enquired from Mr Aboagye why he failed to appear before the court, he said his schedules were tight.

The trial judge Mr Justice Yaw Appau, said: "I don't think you are aware of the rules of the court, else I would have ordered for your arrest the case before the court takes precedence.

Led in evidence by Mr. Gyambiby, Mr Aboagye told the court that on May 9, 2001, he was detailed to cover the football match between Accra Hearts of Oak and Kumasi Asante Kotoko at the Accra Sports Stadium.

Witness said when the match was about to end, he saw spectators throwing plastic chairs onto the field. According to the witness he took shots of policemen firing "white smoke" into the atmosphere and spectators running helter-skelter.

He said some of the spectators covered their noses while others were jumping from one part of the stadium to the other.

According to the witness, when he was about to leave the stadium, he was told by some of the spectators that some people had collapsed behind the goal post.

Witness said he proceeded to the scene and took shots and handed over the cassettes to his producer.

During a cross-examination by Mr Owusu Fordjour, a defence counsel, witness agreed with counsel that in his statement to the police he mentioned that he heard police officers telling the spectators to stop breaking the plastic chairs.

Counsel: Do you know the owner of the plastic chairs? Witness: They belong to the state. Hearing continues on May 28.

Source:
GNA
Police Apologize for Soccer Stampede Deaths


Ghana's police, who were blamed for sparking a soccer stadium stampede in which 126 people died, have apologized for their role in the disaster and troops stood guard on Saturday to protect police stations.
Angry mobs have attacked police stations in Ghana's capital since Africa's worst soccer tragedy on Wednesday, in which police fired tear gas into the packed stadium, starting the stampede.
``On behalf of the police service, I sincerely apologize to the bereaved families and to the people of Ghana for what happened at the stadium,'' Ghana's inspector-general of police, Ernest Owusu-Poku, told state television late on Friday.

He has set up an internal investigation into the behavior of the 70-officer contingent responsible for security at the match at the national stadium in Accra between local team Hearts of Oak and arch-rivals Asante Kotoko.
President John Kufuor has also established a commission of inquiry into the stampede, which began when police fired tear gas canisters into the stands after some fans broke up seats and threw them onto the pitch.
The police have been widely accused of over-reacting to the crowd trouble. On Friday, hundreds of youths attacked a police station in Nima, a poor, densely populated suburb of Accra.
The youths had earlier attended a burial ceremony for 33 of the victims who lived in Nima.
Ghana's National Security Council met on Friday to discuss the crisis and the government sent soldiers and police in armored personnel carriers into the area to restore order.

WARNING SHOTS

Soldiers fired warning shots and tear gas to disperse the youths and a helicopter gunship flew over the area for several hours during the evening, witnesses said.
Military police have taken over regular police duties in most areas of Accra amid mounting public anger and anti-police demonstrations since the tragedy.
The protest took on a political tone in Nima on Friday, with youths chanting for the return of former President Jerry ``JJ'' Rawlings, who stood down in December after nearly two decades in office.
``We want JJ,'' witnesses quoted the youths as demanding. ``We don't want police.'' Some carried pictures of Rawlings.

In December's presidential election Kufuor beat the chosen successor of the charismatic Rawlings, who seized power in 1981 in the second of his two military coups.
One government official said he suspected the protests may have been instigated by Kufuor's opponents. Tensions between members of the new and old administrations have risen since some former ministers were charged with financial mismanagement.

Kufuor called for calm on Friday.
``I am appealing to religious leaders to pray for Ghana in this difficult time and to save us from further turmoil,'' he said at a memorial service for the dead.


Source:
Reuters -By Kwaku Sakyi-Addo
Stadium disaster police trial begins


The trial of six police charged with manslaughter for their involvement in the Accra stadium disaster will begin on Monday 3 February.
The case will be heard at the Accra High Court.
The police were initially charged by the government in November 2001.

124 people died in the tragedy on 9 May 2001 during a derby league game between Hearts of Oak and Asante Kotoko.

A report released by the commission of inquiry into the disaster blamed the police for the deaths.

They were said to have fired tear gas after fans sitting at a section of the stadium began to throw sits protesting a refereeing decision.

It was the worst stadium disaster in African football history.


Source:
GNA