Fans fought for lives

ACCRA, Ghana (AP) - Thomas Akazara went to the soccer game hoping his team would win, but after a stampede unleashed Africa's worst sports tragedy ever he prayed to live - at one point sticking his head through a stairway railing for air as fans lay dead or dying on top of him.

Ghana's military said 123 people died Wednesday at Accra Stadium in Ghana's capital, where stairs leading to the stands were still stained with blood on Thursday.

Survivors say the disaster began when police fired tear gas at fans who were throwing bottles and chairs on the field, sending a panicked crowd stampeding to the main gates, only to find them locked.

It was the fourth soccer tragedy to strike Africa in a month and Ghana's government declared three days of national mourning.

"It was so bad, we couldn't stand it. We just thought we were doomed," Akazara, 39, told The Associated Press from his mattress on a hospital floor. He had a fractured shoulder and cuts on his legs and face.

Hometown team Accra Hearts of Oak was leading 2-1 against Asante Kotoko of Kumasi with five minutes left when Asante supporters began throwing objects onto the field at the 45,000-capacity stadium. The main gates were locked, apparently to keep more fans from coming in.

As the stampede grew, Akazara struggled up a crowded stairway. He tripped and fell. Others tried to help him, but the crush of people kept pushing from behind.

Soon, others had fallen on top of Akazara.

"There was no breathing and there was no way out. After 20 minutes, I was gasping for air. I even said my last prayer," he said.

He survived by sticking his head through the staircase railings for air.

"We stayed there for almost one hour and 30 minutes without any help. Some of the people who were lying on top of me could not get fresh air and died."

Outside the hospital Thursday, distraught families waited. Officials read a list of the injured, and military police escorted relatives in groups of 20 to a notice board outside the morgue to look through pictures of the dead.

A woman collapsed with grief, sobbing and screaming the name of her 22-year-old niece, Charity, when she spotted her photograph.

The bodies were later placed on the floor of a large, air-conditioned room through which relatives passed, crying and wailing amid the overpowering stench.

Police launched an internal probe into the disaster Thursday, in addition to the government investigation. The police officer in charge of the security at the stadium was suspended.

Many Ghanaians said police overreacted.

"You have killed us. What do you want here again?" one youth shouted as angry crowds jeered at police standing outside the hospital morgue.

President John Kufuor cancelled his engagements Thursday and summoned the cabinet for an emergency session.

The government was also setting up a committee of religious leaders to console the bereaved families and a funeral committee to help arrange burials.

"We must share in their grief because this is the best we can do for them at the moment," government spokesman Kwabena Agyapong said.

Ghana's soccer federation indefinitely postponed all premier league matches.

The stampede marks the fourth soccer disaster to strike Africa in the last four weeks. On April 11, 43 people were killed at a stadium in Johannesburg, South Africa. Another stampede in Lubumbashi, Congo, on April 29 left eight people dead. And on May 6, fighting broke out among fans at a soccer match in Ivory Coast, killing one person and injuring 39.

The latest sports disaster, coupled with long-standing concerns over stadium safety, cast doubts over African hopes to host the 2010 World Cup, the world's biggest sporting event after the Olympic Games.

But Andreas Herren, spokesman for soccer's Swiss-based governing body, FIFA, said the tragedy should not rule out the continent as a candidate to host the World Cup.

"The fact that there has been a rise in such disasters in Africa is of course a cause for concern," he said in Zurich, Switzerland. "But that doesn't mean Africa won't be considered."