Crowd to enter stadium: At least 12 fans suffocated or crushed to death

Tragedy in El Salvador, a state in Central America. A crowd of fans formed to attend a local football tournament match between Alianza and Morocco at the Estadio Monumental in Cuscatlan, a city about forty kilometers from the capital San Salvador, still has 12 deaths, according to a temporary toll. national civilian police (Pnc). “There are 12 deaths previously, nine of which are here at the stadium and the other three reported to us, at various hospitals,” PNC director Mauricio Arriaza told the media. “Salvador football is in mourning,” Arriaza said of the tragedy.

Police added that in addition to the dead, many fans were injured and “at least two are in critical condition”. According to security forces, “preliminary reports mention a crowd of fans trying to get inside to watch the match between Alianza and Morocco”. The match was interrupted as the emergency services teams evacuated the people from the stadium with the operation in which hundreds of police and soldiers participated.

Carlos Fuentes, spokesman for the rescue group “Ems commandos de salvamento”, initially mentioned nine victims, seven men and two women. The death toll rose twelve hours later. Regarding the people being helped, he said there were “more than 500 people in need of help” concentrated in the “popular” section of the stadium, which has a capacity of approximately 35,000 people, located in the southwestern part of San. Salvador. The 100 most serious people were taken to national hospitals and the Salvadoran social security agency, some with symptoms of suffocation and others with various types of trauma.

“It appears that one of the doors of the industry fell and caused a flock of people,” Fuentes said of the source of the accident. Pedro Hernández, the head of the country’s best football team, said that according to preliminary information, the stampede occurred as large numbers of fans flocked to the tunnels leading to the stands. “It was an avalanche of fans climbing over the door. Some were in the tunnel; others managed to get into the stands and then onto the pitch and were suffocated or crushed,” one rescuer said.

The players of the teams that will meet in the quarter-finals of the local football tournament entered the stadium for the treatment of the injured. President of El Salvador, Nayib Bukele, said that an investigation was launched to identify those responsible for the incident and to clarify the incident. “The PNC and the prosecution will conduct a thorough investigation into the events at the Cuscatlan stadium,” Bukele wrote on Twitter. Everyone will be investigated: teams, managers, stadium, ticket office, league, federation etc. Whoever is guilty will not go unpunished,” he warned.

El Salvador’s football federation (Fesfut) said in a statement that it “deeply regrets” the events that took place at the Cuscatlan stadium. He also states that he is “in solidarity” with the families of those “affected and killed” in the accident. “Fesfut will promptly request an incident report and forward relevant information as soon as possible,” he said.

Source: Today IT

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