Deadly New Year Stampede Kills 60 And Injures More Than 200
A crowd stampeded after leaving a New Year's Day fireworks show Tuesday morning in Africa's Ivory Coast, killing at least 61 people and injuring more than 200, according to rescue workers.
Locals gathered at the Felix Houphouet Boigny Stadium in Abidjan's Plateau district to see the fireworks, Fox News reported. After the show, the crowds flooded the Boulevard de la Republic by the Hotel Tirama at about 1 a.m., said Col. Issa Sako of the fire department rescue team.
"The flood of people leaving the stadium became a stampede which led to the deaths of more than 60 and injured more than 200," Sako said, adding that most of those killed were between 8 and 15 years old.
Hospital staff said the death toll is expected to rise due to the severity of some injuries and because of the lack of blood for transfusions. It is not known what triggered the stampede. Photos of the scene show the belongings of people involved in the deadly stampede spread across the pavement, with shoes, clothes and other items covering the streets.
It was the second year that Abidjan had a New Year's fireworks show and the display was organized also to celebrate peace in the Ivory Coast following months of political violence in 2011.
In 2009, an Abidjan soccer stadium stampede killed 19 when sporting officials sold too many seats to a qualifying match for the World Cup. The Ivory Coast or Côte d'Ivoire, officially the Republic of Côte d'Ivoire, is the world's leading producer of cocoa beans, which is used in the manufacture of chocolate.
In similar news, a British tourist was shot dead at a New Year's Eve party in Thailand after getting caught in midst of a fight between locals. One of the men involved in the argument pulled out a gun and fired into the crowd, shooting the 22-year-old British tourist in the chest.
