Several fatalities have been reported following a crush during a football match in N’zérékoré, Guinea’s second-largest city, according to local media sources.
Prime Minister Mamadou Oury Bah attributed the tragedy to a stampede and urged for calm.
A doctor, speaking anonymously, mentioned that numerous bodies were “lined up” in the hospital, which was overwhelmed with casualties.
Reports indicate that police resorted to tear gas after Labé supporters, angered by a referee’s decision, began throwing stones onto the pitch.
No official casualty figures have been released yet.
Regional authorities are striving to “restore calm,” stated Prime Minister Bah, and hospitals are treating the injured. The crush occurred during a match between local teams N’zérékoré and Labé, part of a tournament honouring President Mamadi Doumbouya, who took power in a coup in September 2021.
This incident echoes one of Guinea’s darkest days, the 2009 stadium massacre in Conakry, where 156 people were killed during an opposition rally. Security forces had fired teargas, and many were shot, stabbed, beaten, or crushed in the chaos, with numerous women also being raped. Former military ruler Moussa Dadis Camara was recently sentenced to 20 years in prison for crimes against humanity linked to the massacre.
Frances Ibiefo
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