On Sunday, soccer fans in El Salvador were in grief following a stampede at a stadium that left 12 people dead and hundreds more injured. The president of the nation has promised an inquiry into the incident.
The authorities have stated that preliminary indications indicate to a crush of supporters who attempted to enter the 35,000-seat Cuscatlan Stadium in San Salvador, the capital of the Central American country, to see a game between two local clubs, Alianza and FAS.
The game was put on hold while emergency professionals removed people from the stadium, where hundreds of police officers and troops were gathering as the sirens of ambulances blared.
More than 500 individuals were being treated for a variety of injuries, according to Carlos Fuentes, a spokesperson for the emergency services company Comandos de Salvamento. Meanwhile, civil protection officials reported that 88 people in total were hospitalized.
According to Fuentes, the chaos began when a stadium gate collapsed, which caused fans to congregate in close quarters.
A survivor named Fredy Alexander Ruiz, who is now 28 years old, stated that he was “traumatized from seeing people thrown on the ground, dead, bruised, and with their faces stepped on.”
At ten minutes into the game, the stampede began, and once the game was stopped, even the players participated in the frantic efforts to rescue those who were trapped.
“I had five people on top of me that were suffocating me,” Ruiz added. “Thank God, I was able to grab the foot of a policeman, and he and a friend of mine pulled me out,” the victim said. “They got me out.”
Dozens of Alianza supporters erected a tribute to the victims on Sunday evening. They hung a banner that said “Rest in peace” on the wall of the stadium, where they also laid flowers and 12 candles in memory of those who had passed away.
Following the recitation of a prayer, the supporters got up and left, several of them in tears.
The President of El Salvador, Nayib Bukele, stated on Saturday that an investigation will be conducted into the event, and those responsible will be held accountable.
“Everyone will be investigated: teams, managers, the stadium, the box office, the league, and the federation,” Bukele stated on Twitter.
He issued a stern warning, stating that “whoever the culprits are, they will not go unpunished.”