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Guinea football stadium crush: Rights groups say 135 killed in Nzérékoré

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Human rights teams in Guinea say they imagine greater than 135 soccer followers have been killed in a crush at a stadium on Sunday, most of them youngsters.

The determine, which is unverified, far exceeds the official number of deaths at 56.

The teams mentioned the estimate was based mostly on data from hospital, cemeteries, witnesses on the stadium, households of victims, mosques, church buildings and the native media. More than 50 others are nonetheless lacking, it mentioned.

The army authorities, nevertheless, has warned towards spreading “unverified” data, saying that its investigations are ongoing into the tragedy within the nation’s second largest metropolis, Nzérékoré.

Justice Minister Yaya Kaïraba Kaba mentioned he had instructed the opening of a judicial inquiry towards the alleged perpetrators.

He mentioned anybody disseminating “unverified or malicious information”, could be arrested and prosecuted.

The lethal incident adopted a controversial refereeing choice through the match, which led to violence.

Police responded with tear fuel, as folks tried to flee.

But the rights teams blamed the deaths on the sport’s organisers and Guinea’s ruling army junta, who held the event in honour of President Mamady Doumbouya.

The collective of rights teams in Nzérékoré mentioned there was extreme use of tear fuel in an enclosed space, including that autos carrying officers leaving the stadium additionally hit residents who have been making an attempt to flee.

Prime Minister Mamadou Oury Bah on Tuesday introduced three days of nationwide mourning for the victims.

Government spokesman Ousmane Gaoual instructed native Guineenews web site that the nation was “in mourning and we must respect the mourning of Guinea and the families” in response to a question concerning the variety of victims.

“The government announces provisional figures and someone comes up with other figures, where is the contradiction? We didn’t say that these are final figures,” he was quoted as saying.

A neighborhood journalist in Nzérékoré earlier instructed the BBC that the stadium had been “packed to the rafters” with hundreds of individuals earlier than the lethal incident.

Paul Sakouvogi mentioned the stadium had “only one exit… which was very small”, the place the crush occurred as folks tried to flee.

Guinea is amongst a number of African international locations which might be at the moment banned from holding worldwide soccer matches for not assembly worldwide requirements.

Others barred by the Confederation of African Football (Caf) from such matches embrace Ethiopia, Gambia, Chad and Sierra Leone.

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