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120 dead in Ghana soccer stampede
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A STAMPEDE at a packed soccer match between top Ghana teams killed at least 120 people on Wednesday night, a top government official said. The panic erupted when police fired tear gas to subdue unruly fans, witnesses said.
With hometown team Accra Hearts of Oak leading 2-1 after two quick goals near the final whistle, Asante Kotoko fans began tearing up plastic stadium chairs and throwing chunks of them onto the pitch.
Police reacted by firing teargas into the packed stadium that has a capacity of 50,000.
"There was a mad rush out of the stadium,'' spectator Mohamed Anwar reported.
"There was smoke and there was debris, and I counted at least 15 people lying on the floor in one part of the stadium. Some were injured and apparently some were dead."
Ambulances raced through the streets of this seaside capital for more than an hour after the stampede at Accra Stadium, the city's main playing field. Radio stations were broadcasting appeals for all doctors to report to work to help treat the injured.
Many of the casualties were taken to Accra's military hospital No 37 after the stampede, filling its hallways with bleeding, injured people, as relatives frantically searched for loved ones. Ghana President John Kufuor visited the hospital and summoned an emergency cabinet meeting for Thursday.
Bitter rivalry has long marked games between Hearts of Oak and Asante Kotoko, a team from the central city of Kumasi. There was a heavy police presence at the Accra Sports' Stadium because of fears of trouble at one of the first matches in the league this season.
Harry Zakour, chief executive of Hearts of Oak, told Ghana's local Metro TV: "I think the police shot too much teargas. It was unnecessary.''
"It is a great national tragedy,'' said Minister of Presidential Affairs Jake Obetsebi-Amptey, who visited the hospital. "Many people have died and many more are wounded and are bleeding.''
He said at least 100 people were killed. Hospital officials also gave that figure, but some local media reported that more than 120 fans were killed in the melee.
Obetsebi-Amptey urged relatives to return home, saying they were crowding the hospital and creating problems.
"What is important now is to remain calm ... It is a night for us to mourn and not a night to worsen an already bad situation with anger and impatience.''
This was the fourth soccer disaster in Africa during the past month. Forty-three people were killed on April 11 at a stadium in Johannesburg, South Africa.
Another stampede on April 29 killed seven people in Lubumbashi, Congo. And on May 6, fighting broke out among fans at a soccer match in Ivory Coast, killing one person and injuring 39. (SD-Agencies)
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