After the tragedy of Sunday December 1, 2024 which occurred at the April 3 stadium in N'Zérékoré, our editorial staff went to meet several bereaved families in the urban commune. There is total dismay in families everywhere. But the parents say they put themselves in the will of God.
Julien Soropogui, aged 12, is one of the many victims. His mother on duty at Camp Béhanzin, who came to collect the body of her child, was inconsolable.
“I lost my child in this tragedy that happened at the stadium. He had left to watch the tournament final. They called me to tell me that your child was in an accident and died. Come take his body. I came to find his body at the morgue of the regional hospital here. I am taking him to our village in Yiriyé for his burial,” she explains, with tears in her eyes.
“It was to our surprise that the children went to the stadium to watch the final of the tournament with the Mamadi Doumbouya trophy. I thought he had gone to work because after school, that's where he goes. I checked the house but he wasn't there. He was found in the hospital. It was our imam who came to ask us if we had seen my child. I told him no. This is how he took my younger brother and went to the hospital. It was there that they found the remains of my child and those of my uncle's child. We left in our neighborhood chief's vehicle, they gave us the bodies last night. It is God who wanted it, we can only rely on his will. Everything that happens to us, we share our compassion with the authorities, just like what happens to them,” insists Mamady Sanoh, Moussa’s biological father.
In the Kwitèyapoulou district, Mariam Barry, aged 20, a five-month pregnant housewife, also died in the stampede.
“I went to watch the match at the stadium but as soon as I arrived, I found that there were a lot of people. I stood at the door for a few minutes. Afterwards I came back and stopped next to the police officers. It was there that I saw a friend's younger sister lying on the ground. She told me she is alone. I fought to get her out the back door. She took a motorbike to return home to Ossud. I also returned home. This is how my older brother informed me that my wife and his wife are also there. I called my wife but her number didn't go through. We tried the number of my big brother who came home. She told us that she is at the stadium. We went to take my big brother's to send home. She was the one who told us that there were deaths. I then went to pick up my wife. As soon as I went to the hospital morgue, through the window I saw my wife's body. Without saying too much, what's done is done. I have nothing else to say. This is something that has never happened to me in my life,” said Abdouraham Barry, taxi-moto driver.
