ABIDJAN, Ivory Coast — Fans who survived a deadly stadium stampede in the Ivory Coast blamed police today for the tragedy, saying security forces provoked the panic by tear gassing people who had nowhere to run.
World soccer body FIFA called for a prompt investigation into the stampede Sunday at Abidjan’s Felix Houphouet-Boigny arena, which killed 19 people and injured more than 130.
Tens of thousands of fans turned out to see Chelsea striker Didier Drogba — a native of Ivory Coast — as the home team squared off against Malawi at a World Cup qualifying match.
Interior Minister Desire Tagro said on state TV that fans outside the stadium before the game began pushing and shoving, setting off the panic. But witnesses said as fans tried to get into the stadium, police fired tear gas into the crowd, setting off the stampede.
The weight of the fans pushing forward caused a wall to come crashing down, according to an AP photographer and other witnesses. An Abidjan morgue listed 19 dead, and Tagro gave the number of injured as 132.
“We saw people falling from the top bleachers,” said Diarassouba Adama, who was inside the stadium. “The stampede was provoked by the security forces who threw tear gas canisters at us. I don’t know why they fired on us.”
Relatives of the dead outside one of the capital’s morgues agreed.
“My brother left to go to the stadium with his friends. At the entrance, they were attacked by security forces. That’s what set off the stampede,” Momodou Kamara said after identifying the body of his brother.
Women fainted with grief outside the morgue today and others sobbed as they held each other. Fathers and brothers stood, their eyes red with sorrow.
Morgue officials released the names of the 19 dead — including two children. There was no immediate word today on the condition of the injured.
State TV announced that Prime Minister Guillaume Soro was holding an emergency cabinet meeting today to deal with the national tragedy.
The game took place Sunday despite the deaths and Ivory Coast won 5-0. It was the first match in the final stage of African qualifying for the 2010 World Cup being played in South Africa.
The organizer of the next World Cup, meanwhile, pledged today there will be no stadium stampedes during Africa’s first World Cup in 2010 or during the 2009 Confederations Cup, both being held in South Africa.
Danny Jordaan told reporters in Johannesburg that many African fans buy their tickets only when they reach the stadium, and delays often create impatient crowds outside.
“It triggers a stampede that leads to disaster,” Jordaan said. “Those things will not occur in the Confederations Cup or the World Cup. It is impossible.”
Jordaan said World Cup and Confederations Cup tickets will have to be purchased well in advance and those without tickets will be stopped far away from the stadiums.
He said stadium gates will open early, three hours before kickoff, and public transportation to stadiums will be improved — all to reduce anxious crowds.
Both he and FIFA President Joseph S. Blatter offered condolences.
If tear gas was to blame in Abidjan, it would be the fourth time since 2001 that police firing tear gas have set off deadly stadium stampedes in Africa.
In 2000, 13 fans died at a match in Zimbabwe after police fired tear gas into the crowd. A year later, at least 123 people died in Accra, Ghana, after security forces fired tear gas into the stands, and seven other fans were crushed to death in a stampede in Lubumbashi, Congo, after police fired tear gas.
The worst stadium disaster in Africa was the Ghana stampede in 2001. The deadliest stadium disaster worldwide took place in Moscow in 1982, when 340 people were reportedly killed in fan stampede at a European Cup match.
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