Johannesburg — Up to fifty people were crushed to death in a stampede Wednesday night, at a major national league soccer match at the Ellis Park Stadium in Johannesburg. Dozens, including women and children, were injured in South Africa's worst sporting tragedy.
The government has ordered an urgent investigation into the incident. President Thabo Mbeki, who watched the disaster unfold live on television, issued a statement saying the enquiry must be held to "ensure this doesn't happen in South Africa again".
Emergency services and a helicopter helped to ferry the dead out of the floodlit stadium, where a derby soccer match between the two most popular rival South African squads, Orlando Pirates and Kaizer Chiefs, was abandoned after thirty-five minutes.
Bodies were strewn all over the pitch as rescue services rushed to help. The corpses were later laid out in neat rows and covered in red blankets. Advertising boards were used as stretchers to carry the dead and wounded. Stunned match officials and executives from the two top teams, as well as the national Premier Soccer League (PSL), appealed for calm.
A convoy of ambulances and private cars drove injured fans to Johannesburg Hospital. Earlier reports said emergency vehicles were having trouble trying to reach the stadium.
The owner of Kaizer Chiefs, Kaizer Motaung, said the club was 'very sorry' about the tragedy. His soccer rival, Irwin Khoza, the chairman of Orlando Pirates -- South Africa's oldest football team, which was created in 1937 and gave birth to Chiefs -- said "We apologize profusely. May God let them rest in peace".
Addressing the crowd in the local Xhosa language, the South African sports minister, Ngconde Balfour, moved down to the pitch and also urged the spectators to remain calm.
Balfour later told CNN: "We had a stampede between the two biggest clubs in the country. There were more supporters than the stadium could hold and it resulted in people being crushed and injured and, of course, plus or minus fifty dead and more injured. We send condolences to all the families concerned, because this should not have happened".
Witnesses said the stampede followed a goal scored by Pirates, after which the vastly overcrowded stadium erupted and those trying to get into Ellis Park surged forward, breaking through the outside fences, which collapsed, with people behind stepping on those in front. Other reports spoke of people trying to push their way in, trapped against barbed wire. The stadium was packed beyond capacity.
Zingayi S'kosana was one of the security guards on duty at Ellis Park stadium. He told AllAfrica that he was helping to control the crowds. "The people pushed away the gates and went inside. Some people died at gate number 12 and many others were injured".
Joseph Mtsweni, a Kaizer Chiefs' supporter, had his arm around Jacob 'Jento' Cindi, comforting the rival Pirates' fan. Both had travelled to Johannesburg from Delmas in Mpumalanga province and complained about woefully inadequate security at the stadium.
"When we got to the stadium the game was nice, "Mtsweni said. "Then the trouble happened. But there is one thing that happens among PSL (Premier Soccer League) teams. When they don't count the seats of the stadium, they allow the security to let people inside. When the stadium is full, they don't worry". Adding his condolences to "those who have lost their loved ones", Mtsweni also had a warning for the PSL. "The Premier Soccer League must do something We don't love to lose our loved ones like what has happened in this stadium".
Cindi described what he witnessed on Wednesday as a 'disaster'. "This shouldn't have happened. If the game plans of the PSL were correct, this tragic event shouldn't have happened", he said sorrowfully. "Some of the people who passed away, we climbed over them and, unfortunately, we couldn't do anything else because there was no other way round except climbing over them. I pay my sincere condolences to all those who lost their loved ones, to the colleagues and the families".
Pitch invasions and some soccer violence are an unfortunate feature of South African football, but people have rarely lost their lives in a melee. The last fatal incident was in 1991 in Orkney, a small South African mining town, when 42 people died in a stampede at a match between the same teams, Pirates and Chiefs. Wednesday's is thought to be the worst disaster in South African soccer and sporting history.
A constant complaint by soccer fans in South Africa, and a recurring problem, is that too many tickets are sold to fans. Many people say this could be one cause for the events of Wednesday night, where witnesses said thousands of fans were trying to force their way into Ellis Park stadium. Another problem, say some soccer commentators, is the practice in South Africa of selling almost all the tickets at the gate, instead of encouraging pre-booking.
The stampede was confined to just one section of the giant park. Spectators in the upper stands of the stadium said they could see people panicking down below and realized something was wrong.
At midnight, local time, Napoleon Lundi was still looking for his friend David Tshabalala. The two were meant to meet at the match. "I was here a bit late. I got here at about 8pm. I was one of the unfortunate ones who did not have a ticket. I think we were more than thirty thousand people outside, we were too many", said Lundi. He said he was told that tickets were sold out by 7pm. "As we got to the gate, the security people said, if you like, you can just go in there, you can just go and try and see what you can do".
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Lundi said he managed to get as far as the inside gate and into the stadium, but did not reach the pavilion. He missed the crush and missed the stampede, but was still hunting for his two missing friends outside the stadium, as two police mortuary vans drove in to load the half a dozen remaining bodies, some rigid and unyielding, into their vehicles.
Balfour, the sports minister, said he would be talking to the national soccer body, the Premier Soccer League, Thursday morning at 10 o'clock to try to sort out "logistical problems".
Out of respect for the dead, the match was not resumed and will be rescheduled. Both Orlando Pirates and Kaizer Chiefs stand a chance of winning the premier league championship in South Africa, and their loyal and passionate fans flood to the venues to watch the rival teams battle it out. The derby match was a highlight in the annual South African soccer calendar, and a fixture that was bound to attract huge crowds in a country where football is a national obsession and almost a religion.
