DR Congo: Eight killed in a concert stampede in capital Kinshasa

KINSHASA— Eight people – seven spectators and a policeman – were killed in a stampede that occurred Saturday night during a concert in Kinshasa, capital of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Kinshasa’s police chief said Sunday.

They were killed in a stampede during the concert by the Congolese singer Fally Ipupa at the Martyrs stadium, said Kinshasa’s police chief General Sylvain Kasongo.

The Martyrs’ stadium has an 80,000 capacity and reports said it was absolutely full for the local favourite, with one witness saying “even the corridors” of the stadium were overflowing.

“It was a stampede,” that caused the deaths, a policeman on the scene told the official Congolese Press Agency. “The music-lovers suffocated.”

The agency, which had reporters in the stadium covering the concert, said police had cordoned off three areas to secure the pitch, the VIP stand and the stage.

“Under the pressure of the crowd, the police could not hold out long,” ACP said.

Singer-songwriter Fally Ipupa, “like all Congolese singers”, had arrived several hours after the show had been scheduled to start, the agency noted.

The Kinshasa-born 44-year-old is one of Africa’s leading musicians whose albums sell world-wide.

Source: Nam News Network