At least thirteen people, including seven minors, were killed on Friday in Madagascar in a stampede at the entrance of a packed stadium in the capital city, during the opening of a sports competition for the Indian Ocean islands.
The sports event turned into a tragedy. At least thirteen people, including seven minors, were killed on Friday in Madagascar in a stampede at the entrance of a packed stadium in the capital city, during the opening of a sports competition for the Indian Ocean islands.
The stampede occurred at one of the entrances of the Barea Stadium in Antananarivo, where a crowd of about 50,000 spectators had gathered to witness the start of the eleventh Indian Ocean Island Games.
The death toll is still provisional, but according to a Malagasy lawmaker, thirteen people died in the chaos and over a hundred were injured.
“So far, there are 13 dead, 107 injured,” said Hanitra Razafimanantsoa, an opposition elected official, on a local radio station.
According to the Red Cross on-site, seven minors are among the victims.
“Seven children died, two boys and five girls,” said Antsa Mirado, a communication officer, to AFP.
“There were a lot of people at the entrance, which triggered the stampede,” he added.
An earlier toll announced by Prime Minister Christian Ntsay, who visited the capital’s hospital where the injured were taken, reported twelve deaths and around 80 injured.
According to the Red Cross, about a dozen people are in critical condition, and the death toll could change.
Crowded stands
Rescuers have compiled an initial list of the injured. According to the document consulted by AFP, the people who were taken care of range in age from 5 to 70 years old. Among them, many teenagers.
Present at the sports ceremony, which started around 2:00 PM GMT, President Andry Rajoelina called for a minute of silence.
“There are about 50,000 of us in the stadium,” said the head of state in a televised speech. But “a tragic event occurred because there were stampedes. There were injuries and deaths at the entrance.”
In the streets surrounding the stadium, some were trying to find their shoes in a pile of lost items, presumably left behind in the chaos, according to television images.
Other images from inside the stadium, shared on social media, showed stands filled with spectators.
The Indian Ocean Island Games is a multidisciplinary competition held this year in Madagascar until September 3. They have been organized every four years in different islands of the southwest Indian Ocean for about forty years. The previous edition took place in Mauritius.
The Barea Stadium, the largest on the island with a population of about 28 million, had already been the site of a similar incident in 2019.
At least sixteen people were killed and dozens injured during a concert organized for the national holiday. Three children were among the victims.
In 2016, the explosion of an improvised bomb on Independence Day resulted in three deaths and about a hundred injuries, also at the same Barea Stadium.
With AFP