Sports minister Matar Ba said a young girl was among the dead, while
around 60 injured fans had been taken to health facilities in Dakar.
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| Eight
people were killed in a stampede that broke out following clashes during
a football match in Dakar between local teams US Ouakam and Stade De
Mbour (AFP Eight people were killed during Senegal's football league cup final in Dakar on Saturday, the sports minister told AFP, as a wall collapsed onto clashing supporters triggering a panicked stampede.
Sports
minister Matar Ba said a young girl was among the dead, while around 60
injured fans had been taken to health facilities in Dakar.
He vowed "strong measures so that such an event will never be repeated in Senegal," speaking to AFP by phone.
A mass deployment of firefighters and ambulances remained at the scene late Saturday.
An
AFP journalist who attended the match described a stadium full to
bursting with people for the long-awaited clash between local teams US
Ouakam and Stade de Mbour |
 |
| People
look at a collapsed wall at Demba Diop stadium in Dakar destroyed during
a stampede that killed eight people at a football game (AFP
At 2-1 during extra time, US Ouakam
supporters began throwing stones at Stade de Mbour fans, causing
spectators to begin vacating their seats in a rush, the journalist said.
Part
of a wall supporting bleachers seating fans from both sides then
collapsed, while police had begun firing tear gas and panic spread in
the stadium leading to a crush.
"All
of a sudden when the wall fell... we knew exactly that some of our own
had lost their lives because the wall fell directly onto people," said Cheikh Maba Diop, a witness who helped evacuate victims from the stadium and lost a friend in the tragedy.
Also speaking at the scene, football fan Mara Die Diouf said policing at the stadium had been inadequate.
"What I find terrible is that we have this kind of final in this kind of stadium here where there isn't enough security," he said.
Diouf
described police retreating from an area separating the two teams'
supporters once projectiles began being thrown, triggering dangerous
movements by spectators unable to defend themselves.
AFP
journalists at the scene saw belongings covered in blood at the site,
with a pair of glasses and clothing strewn among broken pieces of
concrete.
Campaigning for Senegal's
legislative elections due on July 30 would on Sunday be suspended in
respect for the victims, said a spokesman for President Macky Sall.
Sall also wanted "punishments serving as a warning," following the tragedy, spokesman El Hamidou Kasse said on TFM television.
Senegal's
safety record at large gatherings has been heavily criticised this year
after the death of dozens of people at a religious retreat in April
when a fire ripped through makeshift shelters.
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