• Ivory Coast crush survivors tell of horror: 'I was powerless and fighting against death'

    Issouf Sanogo / AFP - Getty Images

    A pile of abandoned shoes in the street of Abidjian, Ivory Coast, on Wednesday. Sixty-one people died in a stampede at a New Year's Eve celebration there that also left dozens injured.

    By The Associated Press

    ABIDJAN, Ivory Coast -- Survivors of a stampede in Ivory Coast that killed 61 people, most of them children and teenagers, after a New Year's Eve fireworks display, said Wednesday that makeshift barricades stopped them from moving along a main boulevard, causing the crush of people.

    Ivory Coast President Alassane Ouattara ordered three days of national mourning and launched an investigation into the causes of the tragedy but two survivors, in interviews with The Associated Press, indicated why so many died in what would normally be an open area, the Boulevard de la Republic.

    An estimated 50,000 people had gathered in Felix Houphouet Boigny Stadium and elsewhere in Abidjan's Plateau district to watch the fireworks. As they streamed away from the show some encountered blockades.


    "Near the Justice Palace we were stopped by some people who built wooden blockades in the street," 33-year-old Zoure Sanate said from her bed in Cocody Hospital.

    "They told us we must stay in the Plateau area until morning. None of us accepted to stay in Plateau until the morning for a celebration that ended at around 1 a.m.," she told the AP.

    "Then came the stampede of people behind us," she said. "My four children and I were knocked to the ground. I was hearing my kids calling me, but I was powerless and fighting against death. Two of my kids are in hospital with me, but two others are missing. They cannot be found."

    Another hospital patient, Brahima Compaore, 39, said he also was caught in the pile of people stopped by the roadblock.

    "I found myself on the ground and people were walking on me," Compaore told the AP. "I was only saved by people who pulled me onto the sidewalk."

    Set up by thieves?
    Local newspapers are speculating that thieves set up the roadblocks so that pickpockets could steal money and mobile phones from the packed-in people.

    Ouattara pledged to get answers. Some observers wondered why police did not prevent the tragedy.

    Thierry Gouegnon / Reuters

    People wounded from a stampede that occurred after a New Year's Eve fireworks display are seen in Cocody's Hospital in Abidjan, Ivory Coast, on Tuesday.

    "The investigation must take into account all the testimonies of victims," he said Wednesday. "We will have a crisis center to share and receive information."

    Ouattara also postponed the traditional New Year's receptions at his residence, which had been scheduled for Thursday and Friday.

    Advocate: Incident was unsurprising
    The leader of a human rights organization said that deadly incidents were predictable because the police and civil authorities had not taken adequate protective measures.

    "The situation is deplorable," said Thierry Legre, president of the Ivorian League of Human Rights. "It is our first tragedy of 2013 but in 2012 we could already see possibility of such a tragedy because there are not adequate authorities patrolling our roads and waters."

    More Africa coverage on NBCNews.com

    He called on the government "to implement measures to avoid such tragedies in the future by reinforcing the civil protection system."

    Just one night before the New Year's incident, there had been a big concert at the Felix Houphouet-Boigny Stadium where American rap star Chris Brown performed. That Sunday night event was for the Kora Awards for African musicians. No serious incidents were reported from that event.

    Event intended to celebrate peace
    The government organized the fireworks to celebrate Ivory Coast's peace, after several months of political violence in early 2011 following disputed elections.

    Complete World coverage on NBCNews.com

    In 2009, 22 people died and over 130 were injured in a stampede at a World Cup qualifying match at the Houphouet Boigny Stadium, prompting FIFA, soccer's global governing body, to impose a fine of tens of thousands of dollars on Ivory Coast's soccer federation. The stadium, which officially holds 35,000, was overcrowded at the time of the disaster.

    More world stories from NBC News:

    Follow World News from NBCNews.com on Twitter and Facebook

     

    © 2013 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

    5 comments

    no comment

    Show more
    Explore related topics: , , , , ,

  • New Year's tragedy: Dozens killed in stampede after Ivory Coast fireworks

    Herve Sevi / AFP - Getty Images

    A soldier stands guard at the site of a stampede in Abidjan, Ivory Coast on Tuesday where at least 60 people died and dozens were injured during a celebratory New Year's fireworks display.

    By Tracy Connor, Staff Writer, NBC News

    At least 61 people – some of them children – were trampled to death Tuesday when a stampede erupted after a New Year’s fireworks show at an Ivory Coast arena, officials said.


    The cause of the crush, which sent dozens of injured revelers to the hospital, was unclear. The official AIP news agency said the death toll included “many” young people.

    Shoes and clothes abandoned in the pandemonium were strewn outside the stadium, and local television showed images of bodies on the ground, Agence France Presse reported.

    Panicked parents were searching for missing youngsters.

    "My two children came here yesterday. I told them not to come but they didn't listen. They came when I was sleeping. What will I do?" Assetou Toure, a cleaner, told Reuters.

    One man looked for his 9-year-old at the morgue.

    “I just saw all the bodies, but I cannot find my son. I do not know what to do,” he sobbed, according to AIP.

    Another mother said she barely escaped the chaos alive.

    "I don't know what happened but I found myself lying on the ground with people stepping on me, pulling my hair or tearing my clothes," she told AFP.

    She said she was knocked unconscious and pulled from the crowd by a good Samaritan. She had taken two of her kids to the show and found one of them in the hospital.

    Officials said the fireworks show at Felix Houphouet Boigny Stadium had gone smoothly, but something went awry as people flooded through the gate to get home.

    "In the crush, people were walked over and suffocated by the crowd,” Lt. Col. Issa Sako told reporters, according to AFP.

    In addition to the deaths, 49 people were rushed to hospitals with broken bones and head injuries, and an unknown number of others sought medical assistance on their own.

    The fireworks show at the stadium – where R&B singer Chris Brown had performed the night before – was meant to celebrate a period of relative calm in Ivory Coast after bloody civil strife in 2011.

    President Alassane Ouattara called the stampede a national tragedy, visited some of the injured at the hospital and began making plans for a day of mourning.

    More world stories from NBC News:

    Follow World News from NBCNews.com on Twitter and Facebook

     

  • World war crimes court gets its first ex-president in the dock

    Peter De Jong / Pool via EPA

    Laurent Gbagbo, center, is accused of crimes against humanity in the aftermath of Ivory Coast's disputed presidential elections in November 2010.

    By msnbc.com wire services

    THE HAGUE, Netherlands -- Ivory Coast's ex-president appeared at the International Criminal Court Monday, becoming the first former head of state to face judges at the world's first permanent war crimes court. Laurent Gbagbo vowed to fight the charges against him.

    Gbagbo, 66, was calm and smiled at supporters in the public gallery as the 25-minute hearing opened. He told judges he did not need them to read the charges.

    Gbagbo was extradited to the Netherlands last week to face charges including murder and rape committed by supporters as he attempted to cling to power.

    Prosecutors say about 3,000 people died in violence by both sides after Gbagbo refused to concede electoral defeat.

    A four-month war that displaced more than a million people erupted when when he refused to accept the results of the November 2010 election.

    President Alassane Ouattara took power in April with the help of French and U.N. forces.

    The former president, speaking in French, said he wanted to see the evidence against him.

    Former Ivory coast President Laurent Gbagbo is now  in the custody of his challenger Alassane Ouattra - and he's asked the United Nations for protection.  Mr Gbagbo had barricaded himself inside a bunker at his presidential palace in Abidjan for days, resisting all efforts to negotiate his surrender.  John Sparks, Channel 4 Europe reports

    "I will challenge that evidence and then you hand down your judgment," he told the three-judge panel.

    Gbagbo also complained about his arrest by opposition forces backed by French troops in April, saying he saw his son beaten and his interior minister killed in the fighting.

    "I was the president of the republic and the residence of the president of the republic was shelled," he said.

    'Deceived'
    He also complained about his transfer to The Hague last week from the north of Ivory Coast where he was under house arrest.

    "We were deceived," he said. "Things could have been done in a more regular manner."

    Monday's brief hearing was scheduled to confirm Gbagbo's identity and ensure he understood his rights and the charges.

    Presiding judge Silvia Fernandez de Gurmendi of Argentina scheduled a hearing for June 18 next year at which prosecutors will have to present a summary of their evidence and judges will decide whether it is strong enough to merit committing Gbagbo for trial.

    Hundreds of people were kidnapped and killed in a crackdown by Gbagbo's forces following last year's contested election, sparking a war that only ended when Ouattara's French-backed rebel forces captured Gbagbo in April.

    But Ouattara's forces were also behind some of the atrocities, including rapes and executions, as they swept toward the coast from their northern stronghold.

    The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.