One dead, dozens injured in stampede before Gulf Cup final in Basra

By Al Mayadeen English
Source: Agencies
19 Jan 17:34

A stampede outside Jaza’a Al Nakhla Stadium in Basra leaves one dead.

Iraqi security personnel carrying an injured fan at the Basra International Stadium (Hussein Faleh/AFP)

One person was killed and dozens injured Thursday when a stampede broke out outside a football stadium in Iraq hours before the Gulf Cup final, officials confirmed.

Thousands of fans, many without tickets, had gathered outside the 65,000-seater Jaza’a Al Nakhla Stadium in Iraq's main southern city of Basra since dawn in the hope of watching the final between Iraq and Oman.

An Interior Ministry official said that "a large number of fans, many of them without tickets, had gathered since first light to try to get in."

Fans began arriving again in the afternoon as calm was restored to the stadium, indicated Interior Ministry Spokesperson Saad Maan.

In #Iraq, there was a mass crush near the international stadium in Basra

According to preliminary data, two people were killed and about 80 were injured, reports Al Jazeera with reference to the Iraqi Interior Ministry. pic.twitter.com/WFbYwbrUK8
— NEXTA (@nexta_tv) January 19, 2023

The gates were closed after fans entered the arena, many of whom were waving Iraqi flags ahead of the match that the football federation confirmed would begin at 7:00 pm (1400 GMT).

Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammad Shia Al-Sudani had earlier chaired a meeting with key ministers and the governor of Basra to discuss "special measures for the Gulf Cup final," his office said, adding that the Iraqi leader headed to Basra to oversee the situation on the ground.

The Iraqi army called on fans to heed the instructions of security force personnel on access to the stadium to allow the championship to be "wrapped up in a civilized fashion that does honor to Iraq."

The tournament has attracted thousands of foreign fans who crossed from neighboring Kuwait to see the games in Basra, a little more than 50 kilometers (30 miles) from the border.

The Gulf Cup is contested by Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Yemen, as well as Iraq.

This year makes its 25th edition, but it is the first time Iraq has hosted it since 1979, the same year Saddam Hussein took power.

Saddam's 1990 invasion of Kuwait triggered a ban on Iraq by the world football's governing body FIFA.

It is noteworthy that Iraq was forced to apologize to its neighbor Kuwait after a scuffle in the VIP section prevented its leader's representative from attending the opening ceremony.