Police mentioned preliminary experiences indicated a stampede of followers making an attempt to enter the stadium to look at the match within the capital.
No less than 12 individuals have died in an obvious stampede at a stadium in El Salvador the place soccer followers had gathered to look at an area event, in keeping with police and authorities officers.
“Preliminary, now we have a adverse results of 12 victims, 9 of whom are right here within the stadium, and the opposite three that we had been knowledgeable about are in numerous hospital facilities,” Nationwide Civil Police (PNC) director Mauricio Arrias informed reporters on Sunday.
“Salvadoran soccer is in mourning,” Arrias mentioned.
Police mentioned preliminary experiences level to a stampede of followers making an attempt to enter a stadium within the Central American capital of San Salvador to look at a match between Alianza FC and Deportivo FAS.
“There have been solely two gates open in the complete stadium,” mentioned one La Prensa Grafica fan. “The individuals exterior needed to interrupt in and so they all attacked us.”
One other fan, Sandra Argeta, mentioned kids and the aged had been harm and the gate needed to be kicked in “to ventilate as a result of there have been lots of people and we had been suffocating.”
El Salvador’s inside minister, Juan Carlos Bidegain, mentioned first responders arrived on the scene and handled these injured within the incident.
The match was suspended as emergency personnel evacuated individuals from the stadium, the place lots of of police and troopers had gathered to the sound of ambulance sirens.
⚫️ EL FOOTBALL ESTA DE LUTO pic.twitter.com/uFEPoYvNJx
— 11deportivofc (@11deportivofc) Might 21, 2023
In a Twitter assertion, the Salvadoran Soccer Federation mentioned it “deeply regrets” the occasions that occurred on the Cuzcatlán stadium.
“He additionally expresses solidarity with the kin of these injured and killed on this incident,” the tweet reads, including that the group will instantly request a report on the incident.
Well being Minister Francisco Alabi mentioned the nation’s hospital community was “offering medical care to all sufferers” following the stampede.
The tragedy comes seven months after 135 individuals, together with greater than 40 kids, died in a stampede after a soccer match in Malang, Indonesia.
