IVORY COAST: About 60 people are crushed to death in a stampede outside a stadium in Ivory Coast's main city of Abidjan after a New Year's Eve fireworks display

Record ID: 182260

  • Title: IVORY COAST: About 60 people are crushed to death in a stampede outside a stadium in Ivory Coast's main city of Abidjan after a New Year's Eve fireworks display
  • Date: 1st January 2013
  • Summary: MORE OF WOUNDED CHILDREN AT HOSPITAL
  • Embargoed: 16th January 2013 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Cote d'Ivoire
  • Country: Ivory Coast
  • Topics: Accidents
  • Reuters ID: LVA1QMC8BJ7BP0CWR584SZUKQ1UC
  • Story Text: At least 61 people were crushed to death in a stampede outside a stadium in Ivory Coast's main city of Abidjan after a New Year's Eve fireworks display, the government said on Tuesday (January 1).
    The incident took place near Felix Houphouet Boigny Stadium where a crowd had gathered to watch fireworks, emergency officials said.
    One of the injured, speaking to Reuters at a hospital, said security forces had arrived to break up the crowd, triggering a panic in which many people fell over and were trampled.
    The latest death toll is 61 and there are 49 injured, according to a government spokesperson.
    Fire chief Issa Sacko told Reuters Television 61 people were now confirmed dead.

    "'The definitive numbers we can give at the current time is that 49 wounded have been evacuated. It should be noted that there are people who were injured who left by themselves, there are wounded people who refused to be evacuated and 61 victims died,'' he said.
    President Alassane Ouattara, visiting injured people at the hospital, called the incident a national tragedy and said an investigation was underway to determine what happened.
    A Reuters correspondent said blood stains and abandoned shoes littered the scene outside the stadium on Tuesday morning.

    "My two children came here yesterday. I told them not to come but they didn't listen. They came when I was sleeping. What will I do?" said Assetou Toure, a cleaner.
    She did not know if her children had escaped unhurt.
    The incident was the worst of its kind in Abidjan since 2010, when a stampede at a stadium during a football match killed 18 people.
    Ivory Coast, once a stable economic hub for West Africa, is struggling to recover from a 2011 civil war in which more than 3,000 people were killed.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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