Dozens of people in Guinea have been killed in violent clashes between rival fans during a football match in the West African nation’s southern city of Nzerekore, according to multiple reports.
The incident occurred on Sunday afternoon during a local tournament between the Labe and Nzerekore teams in honor of Guinea’s military leader, Mamadi Doumbouya, local news agency MediaGuinee reported. A doctor who spoke to AFP anonymously stated that “there are around 100 dead.”
“There are bodies lined up as far as the eye can see in the hospital. Others are lying on the floor in the hallways. The morgue is full,” the doctor said, according to the French outlet.
Guinean Prime Minister Mamadou Oury Bah confirmed a stampede at the sports event, saying that “victims were recorded.”
“The government will publish a press release when it has collected all the relevant information on these unfortunate incidents,” he wrote on X.
While the minister did not provide details about what happened inside the stadium, MediaGuinee reported that the chaos was sparked by a disputed referee decision. According to the outlet, security forces used tear gas to disperse outraged supporters of the visiting Labe team, against which a penalty had been awarded.
“It all started with a contested decision by the referee. Then fans invaded the pitch,” AFP also quoted a witness as saying.
Social media footage showed chaotic scenes outside the stadium, with large crowds of people trying to escape by scaling walls. Other videos show numerous bodies lying on the ground.
The fatal melee in Nzerekore, which is around 570 km (350 miles) from the capital, Conakry, is not the first to occur in a stadium in the former French colony.
At least 156 people were reportedly killed, several unaccounted for, and more than 100 girls and women raped when troops attacked a political rally at the Conakry Stadium on September 28, 2009. Late in July, the Dixinn criminal court in Guinea sentenced the country’s former president, Moussa Dadis Camara, to 20 years in prison after finding him and a number of other military officials guilty of crimes against humanity in response to the massacre.