Police fire tear gas to tame soccer crowd, 123 trampled

ACCRA, Ghana – Distraught relatives searched hospitals for loved ones yesterday after a stampede at a packed soccer game between two of Ghana's top teams killed at least 123 people – Africa's worst-ever soccer disaster and the fourth sport tragedy on the continent in a month.

The stampede began when police fired tear gas at fans who were throwing bottles and chairs, creating a panic as spectators rushed to escape the gas, witnesses said. Yesterday, the government announced a three-day mourning period.

Hometown team Accra Hearts of Oak was leading 2-1 against Asante Kotoko with five minutes left when Asante supporters began hurling the objects onto the field, witnesses said.

Yesterday, police sealed off Accra Stadium, the city's main field, where a few unclaimed cars stood in the parking lot and the stairs leading to the stands were stained with blood.

Lt. Col. Samuel Wuku, an official with a military task force that was coordinating identification of the dead, said 123 people died in the stampede.

Most of the victims were crushed to death, said Brig. Daniel Twum, director of medical services at the military hospital, which received most of the dead and injured. The hospital also took in 53 injured people, some of whom lay on mattresses on the floor of the overflowing wards.

"I was gasping for air. I even said my last prayer," said Thomas Akazara, who spent more than an hour trapped under a pile of people on a stadium stairway.

He survived by putting his head through the stair railings for air, but said some of those on top of him suffocated to death.

Relatives at the hospital who failed to find their missing, lined up in front of the hospital morgue yesterday morning, waiting to be allowed to identify the dead. Hospital officials said they would be allowed in after autopsies had been conducted.