Nine people were killed in a stampede at a concert by Congolese gospel singer Mike Kalambay in the Congo capital of Kinshasa.
The tragic event took place last Saturday (July 27) at the 80,000-capacity Stade des Martyrs stadium. Per BBC, photos taken at the event show that the venue faced overcrowding.
The governor of Kinshasa, Daniel Bumba, blamed the incident on “excesses and crowd movements” in a press statement. According to local media, per BBC, one of the victims was a 10-year-old child. The event was also livestreamed on YouTube.
Concert organisers Maajabu Gospel released a statement on Sunday (July 28), expressing their regret and sadness over the deaths. They add that “troublemakers” at the event were responsible, and that 2,000 police officers were at the event attempting to quell the disturbance.
According to BBC Afrique, social media footage showed people attempting to climb into the stadium via a fence on top of a wall, causing a chaotic scene at that side of the venue.
They also claim that only about 30,000 people were in attendance at the concert, which is less than half of the stadium’s maximum capacity.
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Stade des Martyrs, one of the biggest stadiums in Africa, is now closed until further notice per orders by the authorities. They also called for the closure of another venue, Stade Tata Raphael, while they reconvene to plan more stringent crowd-control policies in light of the incident.
In 2022, a concert by Congolese singer Fally Ipupa at the same venue faced a stadium crush that left 11 people dead. Ipupa’s forthcoming dates at the venue on August 10 and 11 are now cancelled.