A distraught Kambaly Kouroumah is looking for his teenage brother, Adama, at a neighborhood morgue in southern Guinea’s Nzerekore metropolis, the place dozens of individuals died at a crowded stadium after chaos erupted throughout a soccer recreation.

Kouroumah is considered one of many bereaved folks looking hospitals and mortuaries for lacking family members following Sunday’s tragic occasions in the course of the closing of a nationwide match honoring navy chief Mamadi Doumbouya.

Official estimates say 56 folks died within the crush, however the unofficial dying toll is at the very least 135, in keeping with the Collective of Human Rights Organizations of the Nzerekore area. Greater than 50 folks stay lacking, together with Adama, 15, who was “every thing” to his devastated brother.

“I need to see him now, lifeless or alive,” a heartbroken Kouroumah stated.

The world’s newest sports activities crowd catastrophe occurred in the course of the closing of the match on the Third of April stadium in honor of Doumbouya, who overran the nation’s elected president three years in the past and added it to the checklist of a number of West African international locations hit by navy coups in recent times.

However for a football-loving nation hungry for its first World Cup qualification and an Africa Cup of Nations triumph, the two-week match in Nzerekore, nearly 1,000 kilometers (621 miles) from the capital of Conakry, had attracted not simply adults and youths, but in addition youngsters.

Chaos had erupted on the crowded and open stadium after followers protested a referee’s penalty name and have been throwing stones in the direction of the sector, in keeping with witnesses and native media. Safety forces reacted to the disturbance with tear fuel as followers poured onto the pitch, survivors stated.

Whereas some followers managed to leap over the excessive fence to flee, movies from the scene confirmed many struggling to squeeze themselves by means of the primary stadium entrance, ending up being crushed by the group.

Determined followers have been seen shouting and crying for assist, lots of them being trampled as they struggled to keep away from the crush.

Among the many lifeless was Jaquerine Keba Koévogui, 15, whose father stated she not often visited the stadium and, though she cherished soccer, would all the time choose to look at it on tv.

“My daughter was with different family members, largely boys who have been capable of bounce over the stadium partitions whereas she tried to get out by means of the doorway,” stated Jules Koevogui, 42.

Mamadou Sanoh’s painful seek for his 10-year-son ended with heartbreak.

“I went to the morgue and noticed his physique,” stated Sanoh. “I can not let you know the shock I’m feeling.”

The Nationwide Alliance for Alternation and Democracy opposition coalition stated the match was organized to drum up assist for the “unlawful and inappropriate” political ambitions of the junta chief.

Whereas movies confirmed the stadium was stuffed at full capability, Cissé Lancine, a neighborhood sports activities journalist, estimated there have been between 20,000 and 30,000 spectators.

The coalition has criticised the usage of tear fuel and has accused the safety forces of utilizing their automobiles to impede the stadium entrances.

In Conakry and different elements of the nation, flags are at half-mast because the nation observes three days of mourning.

Nzerekore’s human rights organizations have known as for the arrest of the organizers of the match.

Authorities have stated they have been investigating the incident which provides rising strain on Doumbouya who, since forcefully taking on energy in 2021, has failed to unravel the financial and political challenges he chastised the earlier authorities for.

The United Nations in Guinea has promised a fast response involving humanitarian, medical and psychological assist to the victims of the catastrophe.

“This tragedy is a painful reminder of the essential significance of making certain security in public locations,” it stated in an announcement launched on the X platform.

Struggling to course of the grief, households are asking questions and discovering methods to stop a reoccurrence.

“We should now hold our youngsters away from massive demonstrations of mobilization,” stated Joel Gbamou, a civil society activist who misplaced his two sons within the tragedy.

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AP journalist Mark Banchereau in Dakar, Senegal, contributed.

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