Another Stampede In South Africa Kills At Least 22 People!

At least 22 soccer fans died in a stadium stampede in Africa.Unfortunately,this is commonplace there.Witnesses to the incident say that the police instigated it by provoking the crowd.Here's more on this story from The AP:

"At the downtown morgue, family members were told to come and identify the dead. The morgue showed reporters a list of 19 names — including two children, the youngest of whom was age 10.

Momodou Kamara, who waited outside the morgue, blamed police for his brother's death. "My brother left to go to the stadium with his friends. At the entrance, they were attacked by security forces. That's what set off the stampede," he said.

Diarassouba Adama, who was inside the stadium at the time, also blamed police for the deadly tragedy.

"We saw people falling from the top bleachers. The stampede was provoked by the security forces who threw tear gas canisters at us. I don't know why they fired on us," he said as stood vigil outside the morgue.

State TV announced that Prime Minister Guillaume Soro was holding an emergency cabinet meeting later Monday to deal with the national tragedy. In Zurich, FIFA President Joseph S. Blatter offered his condolences and also demanded a full investigation into the stampede.

"I wish to express extreme sorrow and extend our condolences to the Ivorian football community and, most importantly, to family, friends and loved ones following the tragic deaths in Abidjan," Blatter said in a statement.

It was the first match in the final stage of African qualifying for the 2010 World Cup being played in South Africa.

Stadium accidents are far too common in Africa, where soccer is intimately entwined with national pride. In June last year, 10 people died in an overcrowded stadium in Monrovia before a World Cup qualifying match between Liberia and Gambia. That match also went ahead after the tragedy.

In South Africa, the organizer of the next World Cup pledged that the problems that too often lead to stadium stampedes in Africa won't be an issue during the continent's first World Cup in 2010."(END OF EXCERPT)Read the entire story here.