CONAKRY, Guinea (AP) — A distraught Kambaly Kouroumah is searching for his teenage brother, Adama, at a local morgue in southern Guinea’s Nzerekore city, where dozens of people died at a crowded stadium after chaos erupted during a soccer game.
Kouroumah is one of many bereaved people searching hospitals and mortuaries for missing relatives following Sunday's tragic events during the final of a national tournament honoring military leader Mamadi Doumbouya.
Official estimates say 56 people died in the crush, but the unofficial death toll is at least 135, according to the Collective of Human Rights Organizations of the Nzerekore region. More than 50 people remain missing, including Adama, 15, who was “everything” to his devastated brother.
"I want to see him now, dead or alive,” a heartbroken Kouroumah said.
The world’s latest sports crowd disaster happened during the final of the tournament at the Third of April stadium in honor of Doumbouya, who overran the country's elected president three years ago and added it to the list of several West African countries hit by military coups in recent years.
But for a football-loving nation hungry for its first World Cup qualification and an Africa Cup of Nations triumph, the two-week tournament in Nzerekore, almost 1,000 kilometers (621 miles) from the capital of Conakry, had attracted not just adults and youths, but also children.
Chaos had erupted at the crowded and open stadium after fans protested a referee’s penalty call and were throwing stones towards the field, according to witnesses and local media. Security forces reacted to the disturbance with tear gas as fans poured onto the pitch, survivors said.
While some fans managed to jump over the high fence to escape, videos from the scene showed many struggling to squeeze themselves through the main stadium entrance, ending up being crushed by the crowd.
Desperate fans were seen shouting and crying for help, many of them being trampled as they struggled to avoid the crush.
Among the dead was Jaquerine Keba Koévogui, 15, whose father said she rarely visited the stadium and, although she loved soccer, would always prefer to watch it on television.
“My daughter was with other members of the family, mostly boys who were able to jump over the stadium walls while she tried to get out through the entrance,” said Jules Koevogui, 42.
Mamadou Sanoh’s painful search for his 10-year-son ended with heartbreak.
“I went to the morgue and saw his body,” said Sanoh. “I cannot tell you the shock I am feeling.”
The National Alliance for Alternation and Democracy opposition coalition said the tournament was organized to drum up support for the “illegal and inappropriate” political ambitions of the junta leader.
While videos showed the stadium was filled at full capacity, Cissé Lancine, a local sports journalist, estimated there were between 20,000 and 30,000 spectators.
The coalition has criticised the use of tear gas and has accused the security forces of using their vehicles to obstruct the stadium entrances.
In Conakry and other parts of the country, flags are at half-mast as the country observes three days of mourning.
Nzerekore's human rights organizations have called for the arrest of the organizers of the tournament.
Authorities have said they were investigating the incident which adds growing pressure on Doumbouya who, since forcefully taking over power in 2021, has failed to solve the economic and political challenges he chastised the previous government for.
The United Nations in Guinea has promised a quick response involving humanitarian, medical and psychological support to the victims of the disaster.
“This tragedy is a painful reminder of the crucial importance of ensuring safety in public places," it said in a statement released on the X platform.
Struggling to process the grief, families are asking questions and finding ways to prevent a reoccurrence.
“We must now keep our children away from large demonstrations of mobilization,” said Joel Gbamou, a civil society activist who lost his two sons in the tragedy.
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AP journalist Mark Banchereau in Dakar, Senegal, contributed.
Follow AP’s Africa coverage at: https://apnews.com/hub/africa
In this grab taken from video provided by Nimba Sports Zaly, a man holds a chair on top of his head in a stampede, during a soccer match at the Stade de Nzérékoré, in Nzérékoré, Guinea on Sunday, Dec. 1, 2024. (Nimba Sports Zaly via AP)
Relatives of victims walk after collecting the bodies of their loved ones who died in the fatal stampede at the soccer stadium last Sunday from a hospital morgue in Nzerekore, Guinea, Monday, Dec. 2, 2024. (AP Photo)
LUANDA, Angola (AP) — Even in the waning days of his presidency and thousands of miles from home, U.S. President Joe Biden is finding ways to celebrate trains.
Biden used the third and final day of his visit to Angola on Wednesday to showcase the Lobito Corridor railway, where the U.S. and allies are investing heavily to refurbish 800 miles (1,300 kilometers) of train lines in Zambia, Congo and Angola.
The project aims to advance the U.S. presence in a region rich in cobalt, copper and other critical minerals used in batteries for electric vehicles, electronic devices and clean energy technologies. By the end of the decade, the rail line could even go a long way toward linking southern Africa's western coast with the continent's eastern edge.
“I’m probably the most pro-rail guy in America,” Biden, the first U.S. president to visit Angola, said during a speech Tuesday evening.
Biden has long had the nickname Amtrak Joe for the 36 years he spent commuting by U.S. train from his home in Delaware to Washington while in the Senate. He said the Lobito Corridor constituted the largest U.S. investment in a train project outside the country.
On Wednesday, Biden flew from the Angolan capital of Luanda to Lobito on Africa's western coast to tour port facilities linked to the corridor with Angolan President João Lourenço, Zambian President Hakainde Hichilema, Congolese President Felix Tshisekedi and Tanzanian Vice President Philip Mpango.
The leaders also planned to meet with representatives from companies that stand to benefit from the corridor project, including a telecommunication firm expanding cell service in the region, a food-production firm and Acrow Bridge, a Pennsylvania company that makes prefabricated steel bridges and has a contract to deliver nearly 200 to Angola.
Biden would also see an American General Electric locomotive used for cargo on the Lobito Atlantic Railway, the White House said, with the U.S. promoting the railway upgrade as a catalyst that it hopes will spark a new era of Western private sector investment in this part of Africa.
The Biden administration says the rail corridor will help business interests and counter China's growing influence in Africa. His long-awaited first trip to sub-Saharan Africa as president came in a week where trade tensions between the U.S. and China over rare minerals needed in new technologies went up a notch.
In Lobito, Biden will announce $600 million in new U.S. investment for projects associated with the corridor, which has also drawn financing from the European Union, the Group of Seven leading industrialized nations, a Western-led private consortium and African banks.
Biden toured the Lobito port that will provide an outlet on the Atlantic Ocean and ideally a route to the West for Africa's minerals and other exports. Under a towering blue crane, a banner read: “The Lobito Corridor Connecting Africa from the Atlantic to the Indian Ocean.”
Biden announced that Congo had also committed a new $553 million direct loan to the railway to upgrade and operate more than 1,000 kilometers of line from Lobito to the Congo border.
The administration says it currently can take cargo loads of materials about 45 days to get from eastern Congo or Zambia to the market and usually involves going by truck to South Africa. Test loads run using the new rail corridor made the same journey in around 40 to 50 hours.
China, meanwhile, already has heavy investments in mining and processing African minerals and has used its Belt and Road Initiative infrastructure strategy to promote its economic and political influence around the world.
In September, China said it had signed a deal with Tanzania and Zambia to revamp a separate railway line going east from Zambia to Tanzania’s Dar es Salaam on the east coast of Africa.
The countries had previously worked together to build the railway line in the 1970s, but it fell into disrepair. China’s move to renovate it — announced on the sidelines of this year’s China-Africa forum — is seen by some analysts as the Chinese response to the Lobito Corridor.
A senior U.S. administration official called the Lobito Corridor the heart of competing with China, not as a political adversary but from a business standpoint.
The idea is rather than pumping in aid, Washington will attempt to grow U.S. influence by promoting projects that can spark investment and therefore help communities and countries over the long haul. The Lobito Corridor has become a model approach that the U.S. is looking to replicate in other parts of the world, said the official, who briefed reporters during Biden's Angola visit on condition of anonymity to offer project details that haven't yet been made public.
The corridor won't be completed for years, meaning much of the continued work would come during the administration of Republican Donald Trump, who takes office Jan. 20. The Biden White House says that Republicans in Congress and elsewhere have supported past efforts to promote African business interests through targeted investments and that such initiatives have appealed to Trump and his key advisers in the past.
Associated Press writer Gerald Imray in Cape Town, South Africa, contributed to this report.
A sniper stands on a platform during President Joe Biden's tour of he Lobito Port Terminal in Lobito, Angola, on Wednesday, Dec. 4, 2024. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis)
Angolan Minister of Transport Ricardo Daniel speaks to President Joe Biden accompanied by, from his left, President Joao Lourenco of the Republic of Angola, President Felix Tshisekedi of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, President Hakainde Hichilema of the Republic of Zambia and Vice President Philip Mpango of the United Republic of Tanzania during a tour of the Lobito Port Terminal, in Lobito, Angola, on Wednesday, Dec. 4, 2024. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis)
President Joe Biden and Chief Operating Officer of Lobito Atlantic Railway Nicolas Gregoire meet rail workers during the tour of the Lobito Port Terminal in Lobito, Angola, on Wednesday, Dec. 4, 2024. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis)
President Joe Biden, center, and Angola's President Joao Lourenco, right, tour the Lobito Port Terminal in Lobito, Angola, on Wednesday, Dec. 4, 2024. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis)
President Joe Biden watches a traditional dance after arriving at Catumbela airport in Angola on Wednesday, Dec. 4, 2024. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis)
A poster showing President Joe Biden and Angola's President Joao Lourenco is seen during a welcome ceremony at Catumbela airport in Angola on Wednesday, Dec. 4, 2024. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis)
A poster showing President Joe Biden and Angola's President Joao Lourenco is seen during a welcome ceremony at Catumbela airport in Angola on Wednesday, Dec. 4, 2024. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis)
President Joe Biden boards Air Force One at Quatro de Fevereiro International Airport in Luanda, Angola, on Wednesday, Dec. 4, 2024. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis)
President Joe Biden boards Air Force One at Quatro de Fevereiro International Airport in Luanda, Angola, on Wednesday, Dec. 4, 2024. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis)
Angolan soldiers escort the motorcade of President Joe Biden in Luanda, Angola, on Wednesday, Dec. 4, 2024. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis)
President Joe Biden and Chief Operating Officer of Lobito Atlantic Railway Nicolas Gregoire tour the Lobito Port Terminal in Lobito, Angola, on Wednesday, Dec. 4, 2024. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis)
President Joe Biden and Chief Operating Officer of Lobito Atlantic Railway Nicolas Gregoire tour the Lobito Port Terminal in Lobito, Angola, on Wednesday, Dec. 4, 2024. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis)
President Joe Biden talks to officials before boarding Air Force One at Quatro de Fevereiro International Airport in Luanda, Angola, on Wednesday, Dec. 4, 2024. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis)
President Joe Biden disembarks Air Force One after arriving at Catumbela airport in Angola on Wednesday, Dec. 4, 2024. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis)
President Joe Biden walks to board Air Force One at Quatro de Fevereiro International Airport in the capital, Luanda, Angola, on Wednesday, Dec. 4, 2024. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis)
President Joe Biden watches a traditional dance after arriving at Catumbela airport in Angola on Wednesday, Dec. 4, 2024. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis)
President Joe Biden walks with Angola's President Joao Lourenco, at the presidential palace in the capital Luanda, Angola on Tuesday, Dec. 3, 2024. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis)
President Joe Biden leaves the National Museum of Slavery, in the capital Luanda, Angola on Tuesday, Dec. 3, 2024. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis)
President Joe Biden faces Angola's President Joao Lourenco during their meeting at the presidential palace in the capital Luanda, Angola on Tuesday, Dec. 3, 2024. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis)
President Joe Biden speaks at the National Museum of Slavery, in the capital Luanda, Angola on Tuesday, Dec. 3, 2024. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis)
