The Mawazine stampede occurred on May 23, 2009, at Hay Nahda stadium in Rabat, during the

Mawazine Mawazine ( ar, موازين, mawāzīn, meaning "rhythms of the world") is a Moroccan International music festival held annually in Rabat, Morocco, featuring many international and local music artists. The festival is presided over by Mounir Ma ...

music festival. At least 11 people are reported to have died, including 5 women, 4 men, and 2 children. Eleven people were killed and forty were injured in a stampede at the Hay Nahda soccer stadium during the festival shortly after midnight on 24 May 2009. The incident occurred when spectators attempted to leave in a hurry near the end of a free concert by Moroccan pop star

Abdelaziz Stati Abdelaziz al-'Arbaoui (), commonly known as Stati (), is a Moroccan singer born in Laaounate, Sidi Bennour Province in 1961. His name "Stati" comes from the fact that he has a sixth finger on his left hand. Mawazine stampede A stampede broke ...

. A wire fence collapsed during this attempt, endangering the lives of the 70,000 spectators. The concert had begun at 23:00, later than billed, and this caused people attending other concerts, including one by Stevie Wonder, to go to the stadium when their concerts were finished. The event had previously been moved from a smaller venue to meet a demanding crowd. Most of the injured were young. Eight of the victims were seriously injured. Five of the dead were women, four were men and two were teenagers. They were all discovered after the stampede had completed and found to have been suffocated by crushing. Survivors had to be pulled from the wreckage by rescuers. The dead were all Moroccan. Seven were still in hospital the following day. Hassan Lamrani, the Governor of Rabat, blamed concert-goers for the stampede, saying that they had "decided to go over the metal barriers to have a quick exit". However, one injured concert-goer questioned why police had shut the doors and had not intervened when the incident had become serious. There were 3,000 police on duty at the event. Maroc Cultures issued a statement to express "its great sorrow", extending "its profound and sincere condolences" to those affected by the tragedy.

King Mohammed VI Mohammed VI ( ar, محمد السادس; born 21 August 1963) is the King of Morocco. He belongs to the 'Alawi dynasty and acceded to the throne on 23 July 1999, upon the death of his father, King Hassan II. Upon ascending to the throne, Moh ...

also sent the families of those affected messages of condolence and offered to pay for funeral services and hospital costs. Morocco's interior ministry has announced it will investigate the incident.

References

{{Human stampedes 2009 in Morocco Concert disasters Human stampedes in 2009 History of Rabat Man-made disasters in Morocco 21st century in Rabat 2009 disasters in Morocco