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Congo stadium riot kills at least seven
Updated: Sunday May 06, 2001 11:41 AM
LUBUMBASHI, Congo (AP) -- Panicked crowds crushed at least seven people to death Sunday in a riot at a game between two of Congo's top soccer teams. Another 51 people were injured, Congo Information Minister Kikaya Bin Karubi said. Scores of injured and dead were laid out on the soccer field in what Karubi called the "worst football disaster in memory" in the country. The riot broke out at a game between Lupopo and Mazembe, the top two teams in southern Congo, in the southern city of Lubumbashi. When Mazembe tied the score 1-1 with 10 minutes left, fans from the opposing team started throwing bottles. Police fired tear gas to try to quell the crowd, triggering the stampede. Fans knocked over barriers in the stands in the rush to escape the tear gas and each other. Mbala Musau, 28, saw his father killed. "The crowd crushed him," Musau said. Karubi said seven people died. A doctor at Lubumbashi's morgue put the death toll at 10. The doctor refused to give his name. Survivors took many victims to the nearest hospital, only to find it had no electricity for the day. It was not clear how many people were in the stadium. Lubumbashi Mayor Floribert Kaseka said it was "completely packed." Asked how many the stadium was designed to hold, Kaseka said, "It's 20,000 people, but we can go until 40,000 people." This was Africa's second soccer disaster this month. On April 11, a soccer stampede killed 43 people at a stadium in Johannesburg, South Africa.
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