“Tragedy Strikes El Salvador Soccer Classic: 12 Dead in Stadium Stampede”

“Preliminarily we have a negative result of 12 victims, nine that are here in the stadium and three more that we have been informed are in different hospitals,” PNC director Mauricio Arriaza told the press. “Salvadoran soccer is in mourning,” Arriaza said about the tragedy that in the first instance had left nine dead.

Added to the deceased were several injured fans, “at least two of them in critical condition,” added the Police.

According to the security body, “The first reports point to a stampede of fans who tried to enter to watch the game between Alianza and FAS.” The match was suspended at 16′ (0-0 the partial result) while the relief forces evacuated people from the stage, in an operation that involved hundreds of police officers and military personnel. The atmosphere was one of bewilderment around the stadium where the intense wailing of ambulance sirens predominated. In the midst of the emergency, the Minister of Health, Francisco Alabí, assured that in the hospital network “they are providing medical care to all patients.”

As for the people helped, “Preliminarily, more than 500 attentions are handled” that were concentrated in the “popular sun” sector of the stadium, with capacity for some 35,000 peoplelocated in the southwestern sector of San Salvador, declared the spokesman for the relief group Comandos de Salvamento, Carlos Fuentes.

The 100 people in the most serious condition were transferred to national hospitals and the Salvadoran Social Security Institute, some showed signs of suffocation and others “different types of trauma.”

As for how the incident started, Fuentes said that “Apparently one of the gates in the sun sector fell and that caused people to crowd together.” The players joined in the care of the injured inside the stadium of the teams that were going to face each other in the closing of the quarterfinals of the local soccer tournament.

Among the survivors of the stampede is Sandra Guzmán, 40, who was admitted to the Rosales National Hospital in the capital. “A lot of people fell on top of me, I couldn’t even breathe, they were drowning me,” Guzmán said. to the AFP news agency during the early hours of this Sunday when he was leaving the hospital. When he was in front of the gate he narrated that “People pushed me to get into (the stadium), they didn’t give me a chance to go backWhen I came to see I went into a crisis, I had a lot of people on top of me. I fainted, when I came to wake up I was in the hospital.”

With a bandage on her left knee, Sandra walked with difficulty from the hospital accompanied by her friend Javier Ramírez, 31, both confess that “the first and last time” that a mishap happens to them because they will not return to the stadium. There were testimonials for selling fake tickets.

The president of El Salvador, Nayib Bukele, said that an investigation is underway to determine who is responsible. “The PNC and the Prosecutor’s Office will carry out an exhaustive investigation of the events that occurred at the Cuscatlán Stadium,” Bukele wrote on Twitter. “Everyone will be investigated: teams, managers, stadium, box office, league, Federation, etc,” he added. He warned that “whoever the culprits are, they will not go unpunished.” Director Arriaza said that the investigation “will be thorough in order to determine the responsibility, either by action or by omission of some managers.”

They will also seek to determine “why the fans made the decision to break into one of the gates in the south” of the stadium. In that same area, according to the official, there were problems with “the QR readers of the ticket office”.

In a statement, the Salvadoran Federation (Fesfut) said it “deeply regrets” the events that occurred at the Cuscatlán stadium. “FESFUT will immediately request a report on what happened and will communicate what is pertinent in the shortest possible time,” he said. Due to the events, the federative entity announced that “all football at the national level is suspended” for this Sunday. He also announced a meeting of the Sports Venue Safety Commission