A crowd stampeded after leaving a New Year’s fireworks show early Tuesday in Ivory Coast’s commercial center, killing 61 people — many of them youths — and injuring more than 200, rescue workers said…Thousands had gathered at the Felix Houphouet Boigny Stadium in Abidjan’s Plateau district to see the fireworks. After the show, the crowds poured onto the Boulevard de la Republic by the Hotel Tiama at about 1 a.m., said Col. Issa Sako of the fire department rescue team.
“The flood of people leaving the stadium became a stampede which led to the deaths of more than 60 and injured more than 200,” Sako told Ivory Coast state TV.
What the Hell?? No fire, no panic, no odd incident mentioned…just thousands of people gathering in one spot and 61 people dying. Not their first instance of this either.
This is not Ivory Coast’s first stadium tragedy. In 2009, 22 people died and over 130 were injured in a stampede at a World Cup qualifying match at the Houphouet Boigny stadium, prompting FIFA, soccer’s global governing body, to impose a fine of tens of thousands of dollars on Ivory Coast’s soccer federation. The stadium, which officially holds 35,000, was overcrowded at the time of the disaster.
A year later, two people were killed and 30 wounded in a stampede at a municipal stadium during a reggae concert in Bouake, the country’s second-largest city. The concert was organized in the city, held by rebels at the time, to promote peace and reconciliation.
The recent shooting in New Town Connecticut is a horrible event, but this body count just pales in comparison. And this isn’t an isolated event!
Hey, but let’s just focus on “Gun Death”, because that’s the only way dozens of youths can be killed in one place!
Horrible.
h/t Barron
