UIGE, Angola (CelebrityAccess) — At least 17 people died and many were injured in a stampede at an Angolan stadium during a soccer match on Friday.
According to Reuters, the stampede occured when hundreds of soccer fans stormed the gates to watch a match between two popular local teams, the Santa Rita de Cássia and Recreativo do Libolo. The match was the opening game of the Angolan First Division (Girabola), Angola's top tier soccer league.
"There had been a push that led to the suffocation of people. Some people had to walk on the top of other people. There was 76 casualties of whom 17 died," Ernesto Luis, director general of the local hospital that treated the injured told Reuters.
The stampede occurred at the 12,000-seat Estádio 4 de Janeiro in Uige, a city in one of the northern-most provinces of Angola.
Angolan news site Voaportugue reported that there were more than a hundred dead and injured and the majority were children who wanted to watch the match. – Staff Writers
