Eleven people were killed in a stampede at a packed concert headlined by African music star Fally Ipupa at the biggest stadium in the Democratic Republic of the Congo’s capital, the country’s interior minister has said.
Interior Minister Daniel Aselo Okito on Sunday blamed the organisers for the deaths, saying the Martyrs’ stadium concert in Kinshasa “went beyond 100 per cent capacity”.
The stadium was packed beyond 80,000 and some of the crowd ended up forcing their way into the VIP and reserved sections, reporters of Reuters news agency at the concert said.
“Eleven people dead … including two police,” the minister told reporters at the stadium, sending condolences to relatives of the casualties.
He said he deplored the “loss of human life” and said the organisers “must be punished”.
Security forces had earlier fired tear gas to disperse violent crowds in the streets outside the stadium where many had gathered before the concert by Kinshasa-born Ipupa.
The 44-year-old is one of Africa’s leading musicians whose albums sold worldwide.
The agency noted that Singer-songwriter Ipupa, “like all Congolese singers”, had arrived several hours after the show had been scheduled to start.
Source: Mybrytnewsroom.com
