Ivory Coast mourns 60 killed in New Year's stampede

Ivory Coast mourns 60 killed in New
Year's stampede

Ivory Coast's president declared
three days of national mourning and
promised a speedy investigation into
the New Year's Day stampede that
killed 60 people, most of them
women and children.
"The president of the republic offers his
saddest condolences to the families and
close relations of the victims and ensures
them of his compassion in those painful
circumstances," President Alassane
Ouattara's office said in a statement
issued Tuesday night.
Ouattara went to the scene of the
disaster and has ordered the
government to take care of the injured,
his office said.
"He also asked an investigation to be
carried out as soon as possible to
determine the circumstances and causes
of this stampede," the statement said.
The horror unfolded about 1 a.m. after a
New Year's Eve fireworks show in
Abidjan, the West African country's
largest city and former capital. The dead
included 26 children, 28 women and six
men, Youth Minister Alain Lobognon
reported via Twitter.
Interior Minister Hamed Bakayoko said
the tragedy happened as hundreds of
people were trying to go home after the
fireworks display ended in Plateau, the
city's central business district.
The crush was near a stadium, Bakayoko
said, adding that the proper security
measures were in place during the
fireworks show.
In addition to the deaths, Bakayoko said,
another 49 people were injured, two
seriously.
Many of the victims were trampled on or
suffocated by the surging crowd, a senior
fire official said on national television.
Rescue workers were at the scene two
hours later but could not save the
victims, the official AIP news agency said.
AIP had reported earlier that all the
victims were all children, ranging in age
from eight to 15.
A police official in Abidjan told CNN that
most of the victims were young people
who wanted to join in the celebration
while their elders stayed at home. The
stampede occurred in an area of narrow
streets, according to the official, who did
not want to be named as he is not
authorized to talk to the media.
He said the parents of those involved
were at the hospitals and were being
assisted by state authorities.
Before the night's events took a deadly
turn, AIP reported that thousands of
people had poured into the streets to
join the celebration, seen by some as
symbolizing the nation's return to peace.
Nearly 5,000 extra personnel were
deployed to ensure people's security,
the news agency said, most of them in
the Plateau area.
Ivory Coast suffered months of violence
following disputed presidential elections
in November 2010. Laurent Gbagbo,
then the incumbent president, refused
to step down after Ouattara was
declared the winner.
Gbagbo was arrested five months later
and is now awaiting trial at The Hague, in
the Netherlands, accused of crimes
against humanity for the civil unrest and
deaths. The International Criminal Court
also wants Ivory Coast to hand over his
wife, Simone Gbagbo, to face allegations
of crimes against humanity.
The West African nation is home to
around 22 million people, according to
the CIA World Factbook.