Stampede in El Salvador stadium kills 9, injures others
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El Salvador's National Civil Police announces that a stampede in an El Salvador football stadium killed 9 people and critically injured 2 others as fans were pushing through to watch a match between Alianza and FAS.
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First responders tend to a casualty of the stampede that occurred in the Cuscatlan Stadium, San Salvador, El Salvador, 20 May 2023. (AFP)
Nine people were killed on Saturday after fans crushed each other as they attempted to enter Cuscatlan Stadium in El Salvador's capital, which was hosting a match between Alianza and FAS on Saturday, police said.
"The number of deaths after the stampede at the Cuscatlan Stadium amounts to nine," the National Civil Police (NCP) stated in a post on Twitter.
Authorities added that the incident injured "several" people including two casualties that were transferred to hospitals and are in critical condition.
In its initial report, the NCP said that the stampede was caused by a crowd of fans crushing each other as their tried to enter the Stadium located in the capital city of San Salvador.
Juan Carlos Bidegain, El Salvador's Interior Minister, said that the civil protection service's emergency workers tended to those affected by the event.
The incident led to the suspension of the scheduled match and its postponement as first responders evacuated people from within the grounds while hundreds of police officers and army soldiers secured the area.
El Salvador's Health Minister, Francisco Alabi, said that the hospital network was "providing medical care to all patients" after the lethal incident took the lives of several football fans.
Stampedes have been a reoccurring event in world football fixtures, as a similar incident took place just months ago in Indonesia, where more than 40 children among a total of 135 people were killed in a stampede in October 2022 after a football match in Malang.
This has prompted concerns regarding governing local and international sports bodies' ability to safely manage large footballing events across the globe. FIFA president, Gianni Infantino, met with President Joko Widodo in Indonesia's capital Jakarta to discuss plans to "reform and transform" the sport in the country, which seems of utmost necessity as disorganization adds to further fan deaths.
