Tragedy !
7 fans died and several others were injured when a stampede occurred during the match between Gor Mahia and AFC Leopards played on Saturday at the Nyayo national stadium. The stampede occurred when a section of the fans tried to force their way into the main stand. Matters were made bad due to the torrential downpour that made some fans impatient to get into the sheltered section of the stadium which holds only 3000.
The match itself continued despite a fan jumping into the field in a bid to disrupt the match. Gor Mahia dominated but were stifled by the poor field conditions caused by the rains. A late penalty converted by Collins Okoth after George “Blackberry” Odhiambo gave Gor Mahia the win and 3 points.
We at gormahia.net aka Gor Mahia Online supporters club would like to extend our condolences to the bereaved families.
my condolence goes to the families of the fans that lost thier lives in yesterdays game.i blame the match organizers for that bad tragedy.and to the injured i wish you quick recovery.Kudos to the kogallo team.
FOOTBALL KENYA LIMITED. BURE BURE BURE KABISA. PLANNING O.000% TITUS KASUVE AND YOUR GROUP WE DON’T NEED YOU YOU CAN GO TO WHEREVER YOU FEEL. HOW COME ALWAYS DURING THE CLASH OF THE TITANS (GOR MAHIA – AFC LEOPARDS) INNOCENT FUN LOVING FOOTBALL FANATICS KENYANS DIE YOU’VE SEEN IT BEFORE AND YET YOU CANNOT IMPROVE ON THE LOGISTICS FROM THE LAST TIME. WE REALLY DON’T NEED THIS USELESS NKTEST.
CONDOLENCE GOES TO THE FAMILIES OF THE FANS THAT LOST THIER LIVES
TO THE INJURED WISHING YOU QUICK RECOVERY.
KUDOS TO THE KOGALLO TEAM FOR YOUR WIN.
I extend my condolences to the families of those who died in this clear avoidable incident. I still call upon all Gor-mahia fans to continue supporting our team.
My heartfelt condolence to the victims’ families and the entire Gor fraternity as most of them were our fans.However,the blame lies squarely on the match organizers and ticket masters.Why would a match of such magnitude have only two gates opened?In as much as organizers would want to maximize on gate collections,we should not lose sight of the fact that fans’ safety, human lives are paramount and so precious.Our boys played their hearts out jana.Our defence was so solid.Masika,Musa,Solo,Wekesa,God bless you all.Am proud of K’ogalo.
may the lord rest their souls in peace.i will never miss any of our matches . This is to honour our departed heroes.
very poor organization in the stadium. organisers are killing our fans with myopism. it is laughable that their was a security and organisational meeting prior to the game. kudos to the boys for the win.
I am glad that we won yesterday’s match. Kogallo has done me really proud. I weep with those who lost their kinsmen. I urge all the fans to exercise control over their actions. It is not worth losing your life or getting badly injured or even injuring others over a match. If everyone acts responsibly then we will have our clubs growing and football too will become more popular in this country. To all the Kogallo fans I say ” No more rowdiness ” Tu chukue control tu jenge Gor , iko doh na fun in football if we stay cool and think before acting. To our players > Good work!!
I’ve hear several versions about what went down at the stadium. Some are blaming the rain; some the organisers KPL, Ticketmasters, Stadia Management; some the security providers. Spokespersons of the stakeholders are all passing the buck. The solution is simple: due dilligence to safeguard sanctity of life. All the organisers are to blame for the tragedy. In a just society anyone charged with responsibility would be held accountable for the happenings and made to compensate the bereaved families and injured spectators. I know this will ruffle feathers…but only until such a tragedy knocks close to one’s door does one downplay such a tragedy. This being Kenya, nothing is likely to be done to prevent future mishaps/calamities of this nature. I pray i’m proved wrong.
What caused the tragedy at Nyayo Stadium? At 7:00pm the rains had stopped. Gate 2 and 3 had long, winding queues. The people lining up were more than those who had milled around the main gate 2 (as differentiated from the turnstile entry at gate 2). But the queues were hardly moving. Anxiety and tension was already building up. Shortly the banging on the gate began, then pushing with intent to break the locks. It was only a matter of physics and time and the gate would break open. As a matter of fact (and i have observed this), it takes only about 20 to 30 people with intent to break open the gates at Nyayo Stadium … of course cheered by the people observing most of whom in my estimation had paid and had tickets. The gate did break open in 10 to 15 minutes. What followed was natural…the crowd surged. The ones who broke open the gate made it in safely but as the numbers increased the bottleneck caused by the metal bars that run latitudinally caused a jam. Those behind had no idea that the barriers were creating an obstacle and pushed forward anxious to gain entry. Those in the queues joined naturally made for the gate, including those from gate 3.
So, there we were. I’m not narrating what I heard, I was in that mosh pit. The guys inside started telling those behind to move back wards. Those a the back could not understand what the holdup was, thus did not move back. Indeed the crowd surged forward slowly, then backwards since thee bottleneck was choke blocked. Already some were on the ground trampled. Some were suffocating due to the pressure. One can only imagine what other attrition was experienced in there. The guys at the top and sides of the gate literally offered hand to the lucky ones in the mosh pit and fished them out of the crunch. The jam lasted too long. Eventually, the people at the front managed to push back the surging crowd. The guys on the side of the entrance (because they could see waht was happening) helped immensely when they started hitting back the crowd with umbrellas to move back. People moved back and the reality dawned. Fans suffocated, limbs broken, bodies bruised. The bodies lay there some motionless, some barely breathing, others writhing in agony. Good samaritans (shukran jamaa) were fanning the injured and lifting them to safety. There was not a single policeman, no one took charge of the rescue operation (THERE WAS NO RESCUE OPERATION!) the paramedics, I didn’t see a single one where the crunch happened. Negligence, unpreparedness, needs to be apportioned where it belongs. I’m hurting…We know what our security officers are like (please allow me to call them useless for this particular case). But where were the medics, where are the stretchers. We could have carried the injured to Nairobi West Hospital for heaven’s sake! Did anyone care? I continue to hear excuses such as parking, rain causing fans to try gain entry into the sheltered centre stand, Stadium officials blaming fans, late slae of tickets, etc. Yes, all these contributed, but some of the 8 lost lives would have been saved if not all.
The most we can do is learn from this incident. Will we? And if we don’t it will surely happen again (GOD Forbid). Next time it may not be someone you consider a “stranger” it may hit close to home. Service providers, organisers please learn and make the stadium a safe place. Preparation, Prevention, Contingency, Scenario Planning…
To the bereaved families, POLENI SANA kwa masiba. Waliojeruhiwa, poleni and quick recovery.
POLE, POLE, POLE, pole here and there and everywhere. What happened is simply unfortunate and to say the least uncalled for.This could have been avoided.It was all the time going to happen;I saw the same scenerio on the day of the Sofapaka match at the same gate 2, only that it did not happen. Who will take the flak? Where were the police,several of them were inside the stadium mingling with the crowds but did absolutely nothing.Horseback contingent outside the stadium, what were they doing if not controlling the crowds? In my opinion they did not try at all.What about the organizers and the stadium management? Two gates only, for such a crowd? You must be jokers!Otherwise congratulations to the boys for grabbing all three points of the day.
My condolence to the affected and to those who got injured, i wish you all a speedy recovery.
I am deeoly touched by the events of Saturday.Ploleni sana
I am deeply touched by the events of Saturday.Poleni sana
I wish to convey my deep condolence to the bereaved families. This is a very sad moment to all football fans. The death was too cruel and SMB should be blamed. Nyayo has over 10 terrace gates. Why did they opened only two gates (Gor & AFC side)? We need an explanation because we can not continue to let innocent fans die like this in circumstances that should have been avoided. When will the football organisers learn from the past mistakes? Fans have lost their lives in Nyayo Stadium but no measures have been put in place to address such occurance We keep on forgetting too fast but we continue to have lives lost in events that can be avoided. Where were the security arrangement to control the surging crowds? Where were the evacuation aids? Where were the first aid personnel? I also wish those that were injured quick recovery and we pray to God to give them strength because the word of God says by his stripes we are healed (Isaiah 53:5) and He (God) sent his word, and healed them, and delivered them from their destructions (Psalm 107:20).
My condolence to the families, tuko nanyi pamoja in this time of mourning.
poleni sana for all those who lost there beloved one on Saturday night.ALL in all We as the Gor mahia supporters we should make sure that our heroes lift the cup by the end of this season.Go…….go…………. GOR mahia till the END.KEEP THE FIRE BURNING.
May i convey my heartfelt condolence to the families and friends who lost their loved ones. It is most unfortunate so much so that even after a deserved win that evening, my joy was decimal solely because some people somewhere failed to live up to expectation!!Can somebody tell me how over 15 cops meant to maintain order can be crowded in one place watching the match when those they are to protect are losing their valued lives?
Such a sad loss. As fans we also need to be responsible enough. We will blame the police, the organizers etc but i believe we can be our own police. That Gor fans are the most aggressive is not in doubt…..My condolences to the bereaved families.
My condolence to all that lost loved ones,and those recovering may Almighty BE WITH YOU.Football organisation in this country is poor.How do you expect fans to use only two gates.It happened before Kenya vs Uganda,Zimbabwe.The Engineers designed the Stadium with 11 gates.Our ignorance why do we always use 2 or 3 gates at any instant reasons,What are controlling?No answers at all.
Logics and a bit of argument.If a match is to start at 4pm most fans will start linning up at 3p.m.If Nyayo is to allow 27,000 fans asume 2,000 are on VIP and rest on the stands.5,000 have booked there seats by 3p.m.
The remainder are linning up 20,000.To verify and let a fan go in through the metal rotaries takes at least 2secs.From 3pm to 4pm only 1,800 would make it in one gate.Multiply with four gates that they usually open 7,200 the remaining 12,800 fans will either miss the start of march opening.7,200 will be in by start of second half.5,600 will miss the match.
All this fans who miss have paid.If we open 11 gates from 3pm will get 19,800 fans by 4p.m.
I hope all concerned are reading this will avoid unecessary deaths
my heart felt grief with the dead
we should do the following
1.gor mahia management should resign now!!!! why? they took to precaution in this match in the first incident when the fun died they just increased ticket prices which means they see us fans as money mill
2. master tickets are selling tickets to people without allocating them places and gates to use while accessing the stadium they should be the first ushers
3.master tickets have employed un educated ,big for nothing bouncers who are just stogies
4.gor to get some one better to market the tickets
5. as i have always suggested that we needed other forms to make money not just gate collection only if at all we had this we could have little trouble risking our fans by wanting to maximize on gate collection at the expense of life
5. nyayo stadium is a cage not football stadium
6. big screen outside stadium to help fans without tickets
7.fans to remember that it is his/her responsibility to take care of is safety
am a really bitter man!!!!!!!!!!!!
its saddening loosing vibrant leaders of tomorrow indeed those are heros will leave to remember.i salute them for their love to promote our team and by braving to go and represent many fans that couldn’t travel to spectate or cold weather.lets not blame one another but to condole and take correctional measures to ensure no repeatation of such shame.k’ogalo fans should organise remembrance cum prayer day.WE LOVED YOU GUYS.YOU REST IN PEACE HEROS!
Condolence,
But its also high time our fans behaved.what they did along uhuru highway after the match, hiting moving cars was so backward and this so shamefull. Why are we still leaving in the stone age?
yawa, jameni kenyans!!! pushing and killing each other to watch a game which was on TV? surely, give us another excuse, we should queue in an organsied manner and avoid pushing., the rain would not have killed!
Condolence,
To those fan and families who lost their loved ones
Shame to FKL AND KPL for poor management of soccer in this country kasuve,Hatmi and the rest should quit their positions for poor management.
condolence,to al those who were affected.we lost valnurable lives of naton builders n preventive measures should be put in place to avoid such incident in future.what we should ask our selves is,why are there tradgedy that can be prevented in Kenya today?
condolence,to al those who were affected.we lost valnurable lives of naton builders n preventive measures should be put in place to avoid such incident in future.what we should ask our selves is,why are there tradgedy that can be prevented in Kenya today?
pole for those who died.still the race is on and we surely need to take this cup for thier sake.
Ken, you have just narrated exactly what happened. I hope those concerned have read this.
poleni sana
Poleni poleni sana.
I will repeat what i once posted here, Ticket masters must be proactive in their ticketing system and crowd management. I pray this for the bereaved.
We will be at thika.
ticket master is akiller agency they will rot in hell
the only reward that gor mahia can offer to its departed heroes and heroine is to win the league. there is no consolation i get after losing a friend of long time. to prevent further deaths of more of us why dnt gor mahia acquire a plot n develop a stadium being managed by the club and fix in it numbered seats even if they are just a hundred with time we will have a stadium carrying thousands of customers with numbered seats that if all are booked no more space this shall encourage fans to buy tickets early or alternatively negotiate with city stadium or moi stadium so that u lease these facilities and use am sad about this because i might be the next. rest in peace all the lovers of gor mahia who passed away we shall regard u as our departed heroes and finally may God help kenya.
Apols for the long posting earlier. I’ve now put the same on a blog in memory of the 8 departed.
Eyewitness: http://www.gorsupportnetwork.blogspot.com. You can help share the info with others.
For me, the only thing within my immediate capability is to acquire First Aid skills… I hope some of those who saw what happened will do the same.
greeting to all… let me first start with giving my condolence to the dear departed fans’ family. Gor Mahia engage AFC and come up with a memorial match in honor of the victims and have ALL the proceeds channeled to the family of the victims…
Am so sad about the traggedy, niko huku diaspora but am following all the games to the latter. May God Rest the souls of the departed fans in peace, That is a sign of a win. God must see us through. For the fans Kogallo malo mko tu juu, you are bringing back football back, am really missing the game. Gor tulenge juu cup ni yetu. fans just enjoy the game and be calm, remember we are the most discipline.
condolences to the bereaved families….k’ogalo go and do it for our fans who went,go! go! k’ogalo go! we are with you.
supporting Gor has now become a lifestyle amongst the urban youth – I’m proud 2 b a Gor fan, infact fan namba achiel.
those who died during the stampede did not die in vain, rembgi wasn’t wasted… time will tell, amen.