At least 17 football fans were killed after a stampede broke out at a stadium in northern Angola, police said, in an incident that also left scores of people wounded.
A wave of panic spread through the crowd on Friday at a league game in the town of Uige between the Santa Rita de Cassia and Recreativo do Libolo football clubs.
“There was a blockage at the entrance to the January 4 stadium … this obstruction caused multiple fatalities and there are 56 injured in the hospital,” police spokesman Orlando Bernardo told the AFP news agency.
Bernardo said several children had been killed.
Police revealed that the dead were either trampled or suffocated after they were pushed to the ground. Hundreds of people with tickets had reportedly attempted to enter the already overcrowded stadium.
President Jose Eduardo dos Santos expressed condolences to the victims’ families and ordered an investigation, the Luanda-based Angop news agency reported.
Angola, ranked 148 in the world, hosted the 2010 Africa Cup of Nations and stopped Nigeria from participating at the FIFA World Cup four years earlier.
The game ended in a 0-1 defeat for the home side, Santa Rita de Cassia.
“It is all the fault of the police. It was easy to avoid. They just need to extend the safety cordon,” Pedro Nzolonzi, president of the victorious team told Portuguese news agency, Lusa.
“There was serious police error in letting the people so close to the field … Many of them did not want to pay and those who had tickets could not get in. Then the confusion began.”
