S.Africa probes stadium deaths

JOHANNESBURG, South Africa -- Soccer chiefs and government officials have launched an investigation after 43 people were crushed to death in a stampede at a football match between the country's two top teams.

Officials from the government, the clubs involved, the Premier Soccer League, the South African Football Association and the owners of the Ellis Park stadium are to meet on Thursday to determine how the tragedy happened.

President Thabo Mbeki, who was watching the game at home on television on Wednesday, promised an urgent inquiry, while Robin Petersen, chief executive of the Premier Soccer League which organised the match, said: "We have to make sure it never, ever happens again."

Petersen added: "There will be a full investigation into this tragedy. We had a security plan in place and we have to see if it was carried out and whether it was adequate."

AUDIO Eyewitness Michael McMullan: The crowd just kept coming 624K/57 sec. AIFF or WAV sound CNN's Charlayne Hunter Gault: Tickets were oversold 545kb/49secs. AIFF or WAV sound S. African Sports Minister Ngconde Balfour: People were crushed 422K/39 sec. AIFF or WAV sound     RESOURCES  • Ellis Park, Johannesburg  • Team profiles     ALSO Timeline to the stadium tragedy Witness tells of stadium horror

Investigations are likely to centre on witness reports that 120,000 people tried to get into the Ellis Park Stadium -- built to seat a capacity of 60,000 -- and whether security officials could have acted quicker to avert disaster.

The meeting is also likely to determine how many tickets were sold and attempt to identify problems at the stadium.

The derby match between league-leaders Orlando Pirates and rivals Kaizer Chiefs is a key fixture in South Africa's football calendar, attracting fans who travel up to 400 miles to watch the game.

In 1991, 42 people died in a stampede at a game between the two teams in the mining town of Orkney.

World Cup bid fears

Officials will hope the latest incident will not affect South Africa's bid to host the world's biggest sporting event, the World Cup, in 2010.

The local Business Day newspaper in a front-page story headlined "SA's night of soccer carnage, shame" asked whether the tragedy could derail the country's chances of playing host to the prestigious tournament.

Among the 43 who died in the stampede were men, women and children -- 29 inside the stadium and 14 outside. An estimated 155 further fans were injured.

Most died when fans surged forward, pushing their way through the fence around the stadium or climbed over gates, witnesses said.

Petersen added that gates leading to the stadium were closed after it was filled to capacity but thousands of excluded fans shoved through the fence, breaking it in four places.

Security guards were not able to stop the crowd as people poured into the already full stands and onto the pitch.

Emergency officials, who had used advertising boards as make-shift stretchers, said fans died at the fence separating fans from the field and also at the fence into the stadium.

Petersen added that officials did not realise the magnitude of the problem at first.

Radio reports said officers had fired tear gas into the crowd outside the stadium in an effort to prevent the surge, but police denied it had been used.

"Maybe had we responded earlier, the situation would have been averted," he said.

The match was 1-1 when it was abandoned after 34 minutes of play.

The game had appeared like any derby up to that point "with lots of cheering," said security guard Louis Shipalana.

But he said things changed after the Pirates scored their goal. "The stadium was full. There was no place to stand. The people were pushing toward the fence (around the field), and the fence collapsed and the people in the back stepped on those in front."

But witness Abdul Patel, who spent 20 minutes in the crowd outside before managing to get in, said the game was not called off until 10 minutes after the first body had been carried away from the stands.

Ngconde Balfour, South Africa's Sports Minister, said: "We're stunned, we're shocked and we're sending our condolences to those families."

The Associated Press & Reuters contributed to this report.

Forty-three die in soccer stampede
April 11, 2001

Ellis Park stadium
South African Football Association
Premier Soccer League
South African Government
South African Broadcasting Corporation
South African Football Association

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