Angola stadium stampede death toll rises to 13

Church group organized event

The Associated Press

Posted: Jan 2, 2013 5:38 AM ET

Last Updated: Jan 2, 2013 12:53 PM ET

The death toll in a stampede on New Year's Eve at a sports stadium in Angola has risen to 13, and some of the victims were children, Angolan media reported Wednesday.

Officials said about 120 people were also injured in the incident, which happened when tens of thousands of people tried to enter a stadium in the capital, Luanda, for a religious gathering, according to Angop, the Angolan news agency.

Faustino Sebastiao, spokesman for the national firefighters department, said those who died were crushed and asphyxiated. There are reports the stampede happened as people tried to enter the overcrowded Citadela Desportiva stadium.

The event in the southern African nation was organized by the Universal Church of the Kingdom of God, an evangelical group founded in Brazil.

In western Africa, a crowd in Ivory Coast stampeded after leaving a New Year's fireworks show early Tuesday, killing at least 61 people and injuring more than 200.

Stay Connected with CBC News

Big Box Advertisement

Top News Headlines

Duffy says he wants to give Canadians 'full story'

Duffy says he wants to give Canadians 'full story': Senator Mike Duffy says he wants a "full and open" inquiry so Canadians can get all the facts about the scandal that has rocked the Senate and the Prime Minister's Office and that he has no plans to resign. more »

Toronto Mayor Rob Ford fires chief of staff: A week after bombshell allegations that Toronto Mayor Rob ford was videotaped smoking crack, the mayor's chief of staff was fired and Ford is continuing to stonewall reporters. more »
Federal Court won't remove MPs over robocall allegations: The Federal Court says it won't throw six MPs out of seats over allegations of widespread vote suppression through automated robocalls in the 2011 federal election. more »
2nd suspect in Tim Bosma murder case to plead not guilty: The lawyer for Mark Smich says the Oakville, Ont., resident will plead not guilty to first-degree murder in the death of Tim Bosma, the Hamilton man who disappeared earlier this month after taking two men on a test drive of his truck. more »
Canada Post campaigns against 'no flyers' mailbox signs: Canada Post has been mailing more than 900,000 letters across the country to people to try to convince them to remove "no flyer" signs from their mailboxes. more »

Must Watch

Latest World News Headlines

Obama defends U.S. drone strikes, but not as 'cure-all'

Obama defends U.S. drone strikes, but not as 'cure-all': U.S. President Barack Obama defended America's controversial drone attacks as legal, effective and a necessary linchpin in an evolving U.S. counterterrorism policy, but he acknowledged the targeted strikes are no "cure-all." more »

Jodi Arias jury deadlocks on penalty: The judge in the Jodi Arias murder trial declared a mistrial in the penalty phase Thursday after the jury reported for a second time that it was deadlocked on whether to sentence her to life in prison or death for killing her boyfriend in 2008. more »
Boy Scouts of America approve of gay youth members: The Boy Scouts of America's National Council has voted to ease a long-standing ban and allow openly gay boys to be accepted as scouts. more »
2 more arrests linked to hacking death of British soldier: WARNING: This story contains graphic content. Two more people have been arrested by officers investigating the hacking death of a U.K. soldier in London, say British police. more »
3-D printing of airway tube helps save U.S. baby: In a medical first, doctors used plastic particles and a 3-D laser printer to create an airway splint to save the life of a baby boy who used to stop breathing nearly every day. more »

More Headlines »

The National

The Current

Politics in the Classroom May. 23, 2013 5:06 PM We visit a place where the rhymes of Dr. Seuss are thought too politically shrill to be heard in a classroom in British Columbia.