100 Dead in Ghana Soccer Stampede
by KWASI KPODO
Associated Press Writer



ACCRA, Ghana (AP) -- Tear gas and panic touched off Africa's fourth soccer
stampede in a month, when at least 100 people died during a match between
top teams in Ghana, officials and witnesses said.

Wednesday's stampede was also the latest challenge to the fledgling
government of President John Kufuor.

''It is a great national tragedy,'' Minister of Presidential Affairs Jake
Obetsebi-Amptey as he visited the hospital where most victims were taken.
''Many people have died and many more are wounded and are bleeding.''

He said at least 100 people were killed. Hospital officials also gave that
figure, but some local media reported that more than 120 fans were killed in
the melee.

Hometown team Accra Hearts of Oak was leading 2-1 against Asante Kotoko with
five minutes left when Asante supporters began throwing bottles and chairs
onto the field Wednesday, witnesses said.

Police responded by firing tear gas, creating panic in the stands as
spectators rushed to escape the gas, they said.

Ambulances raced through the streets of this seaside capital more than an
hour after the stampede at Accra Stadium, the city's main playing field.
Radio stations were broadcasting appeals for all doctors to help treat the
injured.

The hallways of Ghana's military hospital No. 37, where many of the
casualties had were taken, were crowded with bleeding, injured people, as
relatives frantically searched for loved ones.

Obetsebi-Amptey urged relatives to return home, saying they were crowding
the hospital and creating problems.

''What is important now is to remain calm,'' he said. ''It is a night for us
to mourn and not a night to worsen an already bad situation with anger and
impatience.''

At the Ridge Hospital, bodies in dusty, ripped clothing were covered in
sheets and laid out on the floor early Thursday. Many wore jeans and bare
feet. A wounded woman was helped into the hospital, with one man supporting
her under the arms and another carrying her intravenous tubes.

This is the latest in a string of recent soccer disasters.

Officials in northeastern Iran said overcrowding was the main reason the
roof of a stadium collapsed on Sunday, killing two people and triggering
riots with police. At least 20,000 people were packed into Mottaqi stadium
in the town of Sari -- twice its capacity.

Since early April, 51 people were killed in other soccer stadium clashes in
Africa. Forty-three of them died April 11 in Johannesburg, South Africa.
Another stampede April 29 killed seven people in Lubumbashi, Congo. And on
May 6, fighting broke out among fans at a soccer match in Ivory Coast,
killing one person and injuring 39.

Kufuor, who took office in January pledging to rebuild this West African
nation's ailing economy, is dealing with a scandal that broke last week,
further taxing the poor country's resources.

Ghana's Justice Minister Addo-Dankwa Akuffo-Addo announced that five former
top officials were charged in connection with a failed project to grow rice
for Ghana's hungry that left the government holding $20 million in debts.

 AP-NY-05-10-01 0617EDT<

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