The Antananarivo crush occurred on June 26, 2019 in

Antananarivo Antananarivo (French language, French: ''Tananarive'', ), also known by its colonial shorthand form Tana, is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Madagascar. The administrative area of the city, known as Antananarivo-Renivohitra ("An ...

Madagascar Madagascar (; mg, Madagasikara, ), officially the Republic of Madagascar ( mg, Repoblikan'i Madagasikara, links=no, ; french: République de Madagascar), is an island country in the Indian Ocean, approximately off the coast of East Africa ...

, before a

Rossy Rossy is a Canadian regional chain of variety stores located primarily in the provinces of Quebec, Newfoundland, New Brunswick and Nova Scotia, Canada. The company was founded by Michael Rossy in 1949. During the 1960s to the 1990s, different R ...

concert at the

Mahamasina Municipal Stadium Kianja Barea Mahamasina is a rugby union and football ( multi-purpose) stadium, also used for concerts and athletics, in Antananarivo, Madagascar. Usage It is used mostly for rugby and football matches. The stadium has a 40,880 capacity for foo ...

, celebrating the country's 59th Independence Day. The show was about to start; people believed that they could enter the stadium and began to push, but the police had closed the doors. At least 16 people died and 101 others were injured.

Previous incident

The crush was the second that had happened at the same stadium in the past year, another occurring in September 2018 during a football game between

and

Senegal Senegal,; Wolof: ''Senegaal''; Pulaar: 𞤅𞤫𞤲𞤫𞤺𞤢𞥄𞤤𞤭 (Senegaali); Arabic: السنغال ''As-Sinighal'') officially the Republic of Senegal,; Wolof: ''Réewum Senegaal''; Pulaar : 𞤈𞤫𞤲𞤣𞤢𞥄𞤲𞤣𞤭 ...

, which killed one and injured around forty. The game was a qualifying match for the

2019 Africa Cup of Nations The 2019 Africa Cup of Nations (abbreviated as AFCON 2019 or CAN 2019), known as the Total 2019 Africa Cup of Nations for sponsorship reasons, was the 32nd edition of the Africa Cup of Nations, the biennial international men's football championshi ...

Crush

Security forces opened the gates at the

, Madagascar, on 26 June 2019 to allow spectators to enter, causing the crowd to mass outside the stadium. Police then closed the gates and blocked the crowd, which caused a pile-up. According to National Gendarmerie General Chief Richard Ravalomanana, the crowd thought that the gates had been opened and they tried to force the doors; they remained closed but the crowd kept pushing, he said. Defense Minister General Richard Rakotonirina, however, said that it was unclear what had caused the crowd surge. The crush occurred as Madagascar was celebrating the 59th anniversary of its independence. A military parade took place earlier in the stadium, and Rwandan Head of State

Paul Kagame Paul Kagame (; born 23 October 1957) is a Rwandan politician and former military officer who is the 4th and current president of Rwanda since 2000. He previously served as a commander of the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF), a Uganda-based rebel ...

was invited as a guest of honor of President

Andry Rajoelina Andry Nirina Rajoelina (Malagasy: ; born 30 May 1974) is a Malagasy politician and businessman who has been the president of Madagascar since 2019. He was previously president of a High Transitional Authority, provisional government from 2009 t ...

Victims

At least 16 people died and 101 others were injured. The dead and injured were taken to the Joseph Ravoahangy Andrianavalona Hospital.

Aftermath and responses

President Rajoelina, his wife, and other government officials visited the injured at the hospital in the city to offer their condolences after the incident, and Rajoelina promised to pay for the hospitalization expenses.

References

{{Human crushes 2019 in Madagascar Antananarivo Human stampedes in 2019 June 2019 events in Africa Man-made disasters in Madagascar Stadium disasters 2019 disasters in Madagascar

Previous incident

Crush

Victims

Aftermath and responses

See also

References