Hon Asiamah about to lay wreath at the ceremony yesterday
Youth and Sports Minister, Isaac Kwame Asiamah has revealed that the May 9 Disaster which claimed almost 130 lives has left the country’s football world with great lessons.
And in a solemn mood to mark the 17th milestone of the unfortunate incident at the Accra Stadium yesterday, he pointed out that the May 9 disaster lessons had been integrated into the structural considerations and crowd control strategies at the Stadium since the incident.
He said, after laying the wreath that, “Useful lessons have been learnt. The stadium wasn’t like this before. There were one or two exits at the time now there are more. When there is a problem [fans] can easily get away, evacuation is easier.”
The Minister added “We’ve improved on the stadium year after year although there has been some neglect, but we are putting it back in shape. Crowd comportment is also now better.”
Members of the bereaved families and representatives from both Hearts of Oak and Asante Kotoko, the two clubs playing at the time of the incident, joined the sports chief to mark the ceremony at the Accra Stadium.
Hearts scored two late goals against Kotoko to make it 2–1, which led to disappointed Kotoko fans throwing plastic seats and bottles onto the pitch in a midweek clash .
Police officers at the time responded to the crowd disturbance with tear gas which caused panic, resulting in a stampede that led to the deaths of about 130 fans.
By Kofi Owusu Aduonum