Eight Killed in AFCON Crush

At least eight people are reported to have been killed and a further 38 injured in a crush that occurred during an Africa Cup of Nations game in Cameroon.  Two children were among those who passed away.

The crush occurred last night at the Paul Biya stadium in the Cameroonian capital of Yaoundé.  The ground holds 60 000 people, but COVID-19 regulations meant that it should only have been 80% full.  Despite this, officials have reported that 50 000 people attempted to gain access to the match.  As a result, the one gate that was opened was overwhelmed and created a disastrous bottleneck.

The match itself was a historic affair.  Small island state Comoros had progressed to the last-16 stage of the tournament in their debut and put up a stern fight despite having an outfield player in goal before eventually going on to lose 2-1.

The fact that the game itself went ahead was at first the focus of much controversy.  However, although the timelines are unclear, it now seems that news of the disaster didn’t reach officials or the crowd inside the stadium until the match was nearly over.

The president of the African Football Association (CAF), Patrice Motsepe, told a press conference that any games scheduled to take place at the new stadium would be rearranged until he had seen an “absolute guarantee” of fan safety.  He was also willing to admit failures, saying, “Clearly there were failures – there were things that should have been foreseen.”

As the investigations into the disaster begin, many have already begun to speculate on what could have allowed such a tragedy to take place.  This is the first time in fifty years that Cameroon has hosted a major international sportng event and up until this point, matches have been fairly poorly attended.  Consequently, the footballing authorities have attempted to attract more supporters to the games with incentives such as free tickets and free mass transport from city centres.  This, combined with the extra red tape required to check COVID-19 certification, appears to have stretched an already under-staffed police force.

The tournament will continue but the countless positive storylines emerging across the board will no doubt now be clouded by the investigation into Monday night’s tragedy.

Image Credit: CryptoSkylark via pixabay