At least eight people have been killed and dozens more injured in a crush outside an Africa Cup of Nations football match in Cameroon.
Videos showed crowds of screaming football fans being crushed at the entry gates to the Paul Biya stadium in the capital Yaounde.
Witnesses described chaotic scenes outside the ground as thousands of fans struggled to get access.
Of the 38 people who were injured, seven are in a serious condition.
One child is among the dead, according to officials quoted by the AFP news agency.
The stadium has a capacity of 60,000, but because of Covid restrictions it was not meant to be more than 80% full for the game on Monday.
Match officials were quoted as saying that some 50,000 people were trying to attend.
Danish journalist Buster Emil Kirchner told the BBC he saw “a lot of chaos” by the stadium’s gates as fans clamoured to enter the ground.
“It was hectic – people running, people climbing fences, people breaking through the barricades,” he said, adding he saw many people without tickets trying to “force themselves in”.
Journalist Leocadia Bongben told the BBC’s Newsday programme that she saw commotion coming from one of the fan zone areas outside the stadium.
“People started shouting. A minute after that an ambulance came to the stadium, but when we got to the place the police would not allow us to get close to where the stampede was,” she said.
“It’s really quite a sad situation that people go to watch a game and they end up dying there.”
Nick Cavell, a producer for BBC Africa, was at the match and said news of the crush did not seem to filter through to the crowd until there were reports on social media.
Discarded shoes and other debris was strewn around the entrance of the stadium, he said.
Nurse Olinga Prudence told the Associated Press that some of the injured were in a “desperate condition”.
The Confederation of African Football (CAF) said in a statement that it was investigating the situation.
The last 16 match between Cameroon and Comoros took place despite the incident and ended with a 2-1 win for the hosts.
BBC
