The Dasharath Stadium Disaster occurred on 12 March 1988 at the

Dasharath Stadium Dasharath Rangasala ( ne, दशरथ रंगशाला; ) is a multi-purpose stadium in Tripureshwar, Kathmandu. It is named after Dasharath Chand, one of the four great martyrs of Nepal. The stadium is used mostly for football matches ...

Kathmandu , pushpin_map = Nepal Bagmati Province#Nepal#Asia , coordinates = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = , subdivision_type1 = Province , subdivision_name1 = Bagmati Prov ...

Nepal Nepal (; ne, नेपाल ), formerly the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal ( ne, सङ्घीय लोकतान्त्रिक गणतन्त्र नेपाल ), is a landlocked country in South Asia. It is mai ...

during a

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

match between the Janakpur Cigarette Factory and

Bangladesh Bangladesh (}, ), officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the eighth-most populous country in the world, with a population exceeding 165 million people in an area of . Bangladesh is among the mos ...

i side

Muktijoddha Sangsad KC Muktijoddha Sangsad KC ( bn, মুক্তিযোদ্ধা সংসদ ক্রীড়া চক্র) is a Bangladeshi professional football club based in Dhaka, Bangladesh. The club is nicknamed The Freedom Fighters. It competes i ...

for the 1988

Tribhuvan Challenge Shield The Tribhuvan Challenge Shield is Nepal's second oldest association football tournament, founded in 1948 by King Tribhuvan. History In 1947 ( 2004 BS), Tribhuvan Challenge Shield was introduced by late H. M. King Tribhuvan for the development of ...

. 93 people were killed and 100 more were injured when attempting to flee from a

hailstorm Hail is a form of solid precipitation. It is distinct from ice pellets (American English "sleet"), though the two are often confused. It consists of balls or irregular lumps of ice, each of which is called a hailstone. Ice pellets generally fal ...

inside the hypethral national Dasarath Rangasala Stadium. The Dasharath Stadium disaster was the 9th biggest stadium disaster until 2006 and the worst stadium disaster in

Build up

The Dasarath Rangasala Stadium is open terrace on three sides with the west side having the only

grandstand A grandstand is a normally permanent structure for seating spectators. This includes both auto racing and horse racing. The grandstand is in essence like a single section of a stadium, but differs from a stadium in that it does not wrap a ...

. It hosts most of Nepal's domestic and international games and the final of the Tribhuvan Challenge Shield 1988 made no exception. 30,000 spectators were present. News reports that the weather on the day was not bad with sunshine throughout the day. Mahesh Bista, the-then executive committee member of the

All Nepal Football Association The All Nepal Football Association (ANFA) (Nepali language, Nepali: अखिल नेपाल फुटबल संघ (एन्फा)) is the governing body of football in Nepal. It is responsible for the Nepal national football team, natio ...

, said they were initially looking forward to postpone the match but, "we decided to hold it as the rainy morning had changed into a sunny afternoon".

Disaster

There are often significant hailstorms in Nepal at this time of year and on this occasion large hail began to lash the crowd causing some panic. The crowd surged towards the only cover (the west stand) but were beaten back by the police. They then returned to the south terrace where a crush developed in a tunnel exit through the terrace. The crowd could not escape because the stadium doors were locked, causing a fatal crush at the front.

Aftermath

Despite the huge loss of life and hundreds of fans being injured, the government of Nepal at that time decided not to compensate the victims. The reason they gave was that the fans were at the stadium by their own choice and the government played no part in causing the catastrophe. After the disaster, the Minister for Education and Culture, Keshar Bahadur Bista and president of the All Nepal Football Association,

Kamal Thapa Kamal Thapa ( ne, कमल थापा; born 4 August 1955) is a Nepalese politician belonging to Rastriya Prajatantra Party Nepal. Thapa, has served as a Deputy Prime Minister and Federal Affairs and Local Development. Thapa is also the ...

resigned. The stadium was later renovated for the

1999 South Asian Games The 1999 South Asian Games (or 8th SAF Games) were held in Kathmandu, Nepal (for the second time) from 25 September to 4 October 1999. King Birendra Bir Bikram Shah Dev declared the games open amidst a grand ceremony. 1069 athletes of the differ ...

with the help of the Chinese government.

References

External links

BBC News Report

www.contrast.org – Hillsborough
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dasharath Stadium disaster, 1988 1988 disasters in Nepal 1988 in Nepal Man-made disasters in Nepal Human stampedes in 1988 Stadium disaster Stadium disasters 1988 in Asian football Football in Nepal Stadium disaster History of Nepal (1951–2008) March 1988 sports events in Asia