RFI - Government meets after 19 die in stadium crush

Government meets after 19 die in stadium crush

Article published on the 2009-03-30 Latest update 2009-03-30 11:54 TU

Abidjan's stadium on Sunday
(Photo: AFP)

In Côte d'Ivoire, the government is due to meet Monday for a "crisis meeting" on the stampede that took place in Abidjan's Houphouêt-Boigny's stadium on Sunday. The accident left at least 19 dead and 132 injured when the game kicked off and those left outside attempted to enter the stadium.

The Prime Minister Guillaume Soro, Interior Minister Désiré Tagro and Sports Minister Dagobert Banzio will attend the meeting which aims to determine "responsibility" for the deaths.

A World Cup qualifying game was being played between Côte d'Ivoire and Malawi. President Laurent Gbagbo attended the game which was won by the host team, 5-0. The stadium, which seats 35,000 was full for a game that featured many Ivorian starts like Didier Drogba and Salomon Kalou.

Jacques Anouma, President of the Ivorian football federation, says he "was only informed five minutes before the arrival of the President that there had been incidents but we didn't know then that people had died".

"It was only later that I was informed of the deaths and the injuries and at the end of the game I was given the death toll," he said, "we've already organised much bigger games than this one. We had Côte d'Ivoire playing Cameroon here, the tickets were three times as expensive and we didn't have any problems".