El Salvador: 12 People Died In A Stampede At Cuscatlán Stadium During The Match Between Alianza & FAS
During the second leg of the quarterfinal match between Alianza and FAS in the Clausura 2023 competition, a stampede at the Cuscatlán Stadium in El Salvador resulted in at least 12 fatalities and more than 100 injuries.
La Prensa Grafica quoted one upset fan as saying this.
“There were only two gates open in the entire stadium, and the people outside wanted to force their way in, and they all fell on top of us.”
For the emergency services to help, men, women, and children had to be transported across the pitch on stretchers and in arms.
According to early reports, several Alianza supporters attempted to enter the Cuscatlán Stadium without valid tickets after purchasing fraudulent ones, which resulted in the barrier to the stadium being knocked down and the catastrophic rush.
According to numerous spectators, the National Civil Police of El Salvador went so far as to shoot tear gas at the fans attempting to enter the stadium to calm the situation after ordering the doors to be locked.
Mauricio Arriaza Chicas, the head of the National Civil Police, said that although the Salvadoran police had requested the creation of a third entrance, it had yet to be approved.
Police claim that smoke from gunpowder and fireworks caused the mass panic to increase, but they maintain that tear gas was never deployed.
One of the impacted fans explained,
“We had to literally kick down the gate to get some air, because there were a lot of people and we were suffocating.”
Alianza vs. FAS continued as planned.
The match between Alianza and FAS began on schedule. It was going along regularly despite the outside events. Still, it had to be stopped in the 20th minute when spectators entered the field of play to escape the disorder and congestion in the bleachers.
As dramatic events played out around the stadium, emergency workers were forced to administer first aid to over 100 stampede victims while using the pitch as a temporary hospital.
Flags from the Alianza draped over bodies.
The crash claimed the lives of eight people—all draped in Alianza flags—including five outside the stadium’s entrance and four inside.
In San Salvador’s hospitals, three more people passed away.
According to El Salvador’s president, Nayib Bukele, the incident will be thoroughly investigated.
“Everyone will be investigated: teams, managers, stadiums, ticket offices, leagues, federations, etc.”
“Whoever is responsible, they will not go unpunished.”
Nayib Bukele
All the images used in the story are grabbed from videos.
