65 killed on New Year’s day around the globe
At least 65 people were killed and hundreds more were injured during New Year celebrations around the globe yesterday.
Tragedy struck Ivory Coast when at least 61 people died and dozens more were injured as a crowd that had gathered for New Year’s fireworks stampeded in the economic capital Abidjan, officials said.
An AFP journalist saw many injured children, while images broadcast by RTI television showed bodies stretched lifeless on the ground outside the city’s main stadium.
The head of military rescue workers, Lieutenant Colonel Issa Sako, told journalists at the scene that 61 people had died. Another rescue official had earlier said that at least 200 people were wounded.
Witnesses said the stampede had broken out after the fireworks ended, though the cause remains unclear. It erupted near the stadium’s main entrance, where security had set up tree trunks as crowd control barriers.
Most of the dead are believed to be children aged between eight and 15. The death toll is expected to rise.
Piles of abandoned shoes and clothing could also be seen at the stadium, where soldiers and police were deployed.
The New Year’s fireworks, the city’s second in two years, had been touted as a symbol of national renewal under President Alassane Ouattara after the violent post-election crisis that tore the country apart from December 2010 to April 2011, killing some 3,000 people.
In Italy, two people were killed by exploding fireworks and 361 were injured as New Year revelry turned deadly.
A 49-year-old builder was killed by a rocket flying into his face and a 51-year-old restaurant owner died when a firecracker went off near his head as he was trying out a firework battery just before midnight, the police said.
In Thailand, a 22-year-old British tourist was shot dead as he danced at a New Year party on one of Thailand’s most famous islands after a fight between rival Thai gangs erupted on the beach, police said yesterday.
And in Philippines, celebratory gunfire killed a four-year-old boy and more than 400 others were injured by powerful firecrackers in typically rowdy New Year celebrations.
-With Agencies/The Daily Star input
