At least six people are reported to have died in a stampede outside a stadium hosting an Africa Cup of Nations game in Cameroon on Monday.
The incident, which is also said to have left dozens injured, occurred at the round of 16 tie between hosts Cameroon and Comoros in the Olembe area of the capital Yaounde.
The governor of the central region of Cameroon, Naseri Paul Biya said there could be more deaths.
“We are not in position to give you the total number of casualties,” he said.
Reports say fans were involved in a crush as they attempted to make their way into the Paul Biya Stadium, a 60,000 capacity arena named after Cameroon’s president.
Football officials said 50,000 people had tried to attend the match, but the stadium was not meant to be more than 80% full for the game due to restrictions on the size of the crowd because of the coronavirus pandemic.
Officials at the nearby Messassi hospital said they received at least 40 injured people, who were rushed to the hospital by police and civilians.
The officials said the hospital wasn’t capable of treating all of them.
“Some of the injured are in desperate condition, we will have to evacuate them to a specialised hospital,” said nurse Olinga Prudence.
It was not immediately clear if the crush happened before or during the game, but some on social media have questioned why the match was allowed to continue with the reports of fans being crushed just outside the gates.
The Confederation of African Football, which runs the African Cup, said in a statement it was aware of the incident.
“CAF is currently investigating the situation and trying to get more details on what transpired, we are in constant communication with Cameroon government and the Local Organizing Committee,” reads the statement.
Cameroon is hosting the African Cup for the first time in 50 years.
It was meant to host the tournament in 2019 but the event was taken away that year and awarded to Egypt because of serious concerns with Cameroon’s preparations, particularly the readiness of its stadiums.
Monday’s incident was the second serious blow to the country in the space of a day, after at least 17 people died from a fire set off by a series of explosions at a nightclub in Yaounde on Sunday.