130 killed in Ghana stadium disaster

ACCRA - Ghana mourned on Thursday for at least 130 people killed in Africa's worst football tragedy, the third such in Africa in a month. Authorities promised an inquiry into the stampede, which spectators said was triggered by police firing teargas after fans hurled missiles at the end of Wednesday's game between arch-rivals Hearts of Oak and Asante Kotoko. "I have set up an internal probe to investigate this tragedy. We're not going to shield anybody," police Inspector General Ernest Owusu-Poku, told local Joy FM Radio. President John Kufuor summoned his cabinet for an emergency meeting later on Thursday and his aides said that a period of national mourning would be declared. Kufuor, who was once Kotoko's chairman, told Reuters simply: "This is really sad." An aide said the president had screamed when he first heard the news. Brigadier Daniel Twum said 102 dead were brought to the military hospital and officials at two other hospitals confirmed a further 28 dead. He said another 50 people had been injured, but most were not in serious condition. Witnesses said with Hearts of Oak leading 2-1 after two quick goals near the end of the game, Asante Kotoko fans began throwing chunks of their plastic chairs onto the pitch. Police reacted by firing teargas, triggering a stampede for the exits in the packed stadium with 50,000 people. Wails of anguish echoed around the stadium as scores of bodies piled up from Africa's fourth football disaster in a month and the worst in its history. On April 11, 43 soccer fans were crushed to death when fans tried to force their way into Johannesburg's Ellis Park stadium in a top South African league match. Ten people were killed and 51 seriously injured in an April 30 stampede in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Last weekend one fan died in Cote d'Ivoire and 39 injured bring total dead to 184. Reuter Ends