At least 36 people were killed and more than 110 others injured in a stampede overnight at a stadium in Mali's capital.
|||Bamako - At least 36 people were killed and more than 110 others injured in a stampede overnight at a stadium in Mali's capital, officials said on Tuesday.
Thousands of people had gathered at the Modibo Keita stadium in Bamako to listen to an Islamic preacher, who was speaking as part of the Muslim festival of Maouloud, when the stampede started.
There was no official explanation for the stampede but one witness told Reuters it started when people surged forward to touch the preacher for good luck.
Gates and fences around the stadium were in tatters on Tuesday morning. Abandoned shoes littered the scene.
“The people at the back were pushing those at the front, who could not get out of the way,” said Baoubacar Diabate, who was in the stadium.
“There were lots of women in there and they were not able to resist. My niece died in front of me,” Diabate said.
Mali's government said an investigation would be launched.
Adama Mary Traore, a spokesman for the Gabriel Toure hospital, where many of the bodies and injured were taken, said at least 36 people had been killed and 112 others had been injured, two seriously.
An official involved in the organisation of the event said nearly all those killed were women.
Crowds of people gathered at the hospital morgue overnight and on Tuesday morning to identify bodies.
Some had complained about the lack of security at the event, Traore said, but the situation was calm on Tuesday afternoon as dozens of people stood silently waiting for the bodies to be released for burial.
At least 26 people were killed during Maouloud last year in a stampede near a mosque in Mali's northern desert city of Timbuktu. - Reuters
Source: http://www.iol.co.za/stadium-stampede-kills-dozens-1.1030631
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