Six dead in stampede at Africa Cup of Nations match

A stampede at the Africa Cup of Nations match between Cameroon and Comoros caused six fatalities

A stampede outside the Paul Biya Stadium, in the Cameroon capital of Yaounde on the evening of Monday, January 24, has left at least six people dead. The incident happened ahead of an Africa Cup of Nations match between Cameroon and Comoros, as supporters were entering the stadium.

Naseri Paul Biya, the governor of the region, added that there could well be more casualties. Local news outlet LSI Africa reported that as many as 40 had been injured, including children, in the crush, and transferred to the Messassi Hospital nearby.

Olinga Prudence, a nurse at the medical facility commented, “Some of the injured are in desperate condition. We will have to evacuate them to a specialised hospital”.
The stadium has a capacity of 60,000, but was meant to be operating on a limited number of 48,000 due to the pandemic. It is reported that at least 50,000 turned up at the entrance. Images on social media showed fans breaking through the gates into the ground.
Other shocking images showed unconscious fans lying trampled on the ground, while somebody tried to carry out mouth-to-mouth resuscitation on them.
Despite the tragedy, the match went ahead, kicking off at 7pm local time, with Cameroon running out 2-1 winners. This sends them through to the quarter-finals of the tournament, although under such terrible circumstances, it comes as a hollow victory really, as reported by dailymail.co.uk.

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