On Monday the 24th of January, there was a stampede at the Olembe Stadium in Yaoundé, Cameroon. According to videos circulating online, football fans screamed in terror as they were crushed at the stadium’s admission gates.
Witnesses reported the scenes as chaotic, with one of the eight fatalities being a 14-year-old boy, a baby was injured after being trampled by crowds. The stampede was caused by the filling of the stadium beyond its capacity. A stadium with a capacity of 60,000 people but only designed to hold about 80% of that. The number of people queuing to get inside the venue, on the other hand, was estimated to be approximately 50,000.
Staff and medical facilities are being swamped by injuries, according to officials at the nearby Messassi hospital, which has received at least 40 injured persons who were transported to the hospital by police and citizens.
The match was not called off despite reports of people being crushed outside, prompting outraged fans to go to social media to vent their displeasure with the games’ continuation.
