Morocco: 11 killed and dozens injured in a stampede at a concert

Eleven people were killed in the night from Saturday to Sunday in Rabat and thirty injured in a stampede at the end of a concert at the festival of world music Mawazine a big cultural year in Morocco.

•     Some 70,000 spectators attended a concert of popular Moroccan singer Abdelaziz Stati at Hay Nahda, in south-east of the capital, where about 3,000 were officers in uniform and civilians. According to a source close to security services, the stampede occurred at the end of the show, shortly after midnight.
  
      The free concert was originally planned place Moulay Al Hassan, in the city centre. But before the crowd of spectators, mostly young people, festival organizers decided to move to Hay Nahda.
  
      Started around 23:00, the concert lasted longer than the other Mawazine events scheduled Saturday evening, such as Stevie Wonder, one of the headliners of the festival poster.
  
      Hundreds of people from other concerts have reached the stage to watch the Abdelaziz Stati show, said the source close to security services, causing an unexpected influx of spectators.
  
      At the end of the concert, a group of spectators stepped over a metal fence collapsed under their weight, causing panic, trampling and smothering of dozens of people.
  
      The victims died asphyxiated against security barriers installed in the stadium.
  
      Five women, four men and two children-all of Moroccan nationality according to an informed source, have been killed.
  
      Local authorities and security services have carried out the evacuation of victims and the delivery of the injured to the Ibn Sina hospital in Rabat, the largest in the city, said police.
  
      "Most of the injured are young," said Dr Abdelatif Benchekroun, head of the emergency department of the hospital. Some twenty people were treated overnight and five more were still in intensive care Sunday at this facility, he said.
  
      According to another source hospital, several wounded are in critical condition and it is not impossible that the record increase.
  
      According to the agency MAP, the wali (prefect) of the region of Rabat, Hassan Amrani, went on site to supervise relief and reception of the wounded to hospital.
  
      The Interior Ministry has also announced an investigation to determine the causes and circumstances of this tragic stampede.
  
      Sunday morning, the stadium was surprisingly calm and there was no evidence that a tragedy had taken place there a few hours earlier.
  
      A huge tent was still standing on the lawn and employees were busy sweeping plastic bottles, empty cans and other papers bold.
  
      Mawazine The festival was created in 2001. Some 1700 Moroccan and foreign artists have participated in the 2009 edition, which began May 15 and ended Saturday evening.
  
      At 1 pm (local and GMT), the organizers of the festival had not officially responded. One Mawazine officials, contacted by the press, has stated "grief and sorrow." "We share the grief of the families of victims and the festival will certainly be a gesture for them," he said, insisting on retaining anonymity.
  
      
  Ennaharonline/ afp