Not fewer than 50 football fans, including children were believed to have died in a stampede during a match at a crowded stadium in southern Guinea’s largest city of Nzerekore on Sunday night.
The stampede broke out on Sunday afternoon during the final of a local tournament between the Labe and Nzerekore teams, being played in honour of Guinea’s military leader, Mamadi Doumbouya.
Guinea’s Prime Minister Amadou Oury Bah said on X, without being specific about the number of those killed, “The government deplores the incidents that marred the football match between the Labe and Nzerekore teams this afternoon in Nzerekore. During the stampede, victims were recorded.”
The regional authorities are working to restore calm in the area, he added.
A coalition of political parties known as the National Alliance for Alternation and Democracy said in a statement that the stampede resulted in dozens of deaths and injuries.
Local media reported that security forces tried to use teargas to restore calm after the chaos that followed a disputed penalty.
“This (the disputed penalty) angered supporters who threw stones. This is how the security services used tear gas,” the local Media Guinea reported.
The report said many of those killed were children while some of the injured persons who were said to be in critical conditioned were being treated at a regional hospital.
Videos that appeared to be from the scene showed a section of the stadium shouting and protesting the refereeing before the clashes broke out as fans poured onto the field.
People were running as they tried to escape from the stadium, many of them jumping the high fence.
Videos also showed many people lying on the floor in what looked like a hospital as a crowd gathered nearby, some assisting the wounded.
Meanwhile, the National Alliance for Alternation and Democracy coalition has called for an investigation, alleging that the tournament was organised to drum up support for the “illegal and inappropriate” political ambition of the military leader.
Guinea has been led by the military since soldiers ousted President Alpha Conde in 2021.
The country is one of a growing number of West African nations, including Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso, where the military has taken over power and delayed the return to civilian rule.
Doumbouya overran the president three years ago, saying he was preventing the country from slipping into chaos and chastised the previous government for broken promises.
He has, however, been criticised for not meeting the expectations that he raised.
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