Deaths confirmed, 80 injured as horror footage shows moment stadium collapsed
WARNING: The following report includes images that may cause distress
Three football fans have died and at least 70 are injured after a horrific stadium disaster in Algeria on Sunday.
Supporters were celebrating MC Alger winning their top-flight league title for the second year running.
MC Alger clinched top spot with a 0-0 draw against NC Magra on Saturday.
Players and coaches rejoiced on the pitch as fans set off green flares around the stadium, The Sun reports.
However, during the euphoria, tragedy struck amid the celebrations in the packed-out Stade du 5 Juillet [5 July Stadium].
Dozens of fans fell from the upper stands of the 64,200-capacity stadium.
Local reports suggested a section of the security barrier collapsed in the upper tier, meaning the jubilant supporters had nothing to stop them from falling to the stands below.
More than 70 people have been treated in hospitals - but three sadly passed away, the health ministry confirmed.
The Algerian Ministry of Health said: 'The Beni Messous University Hospital received 38 injured people, while three deaths were recorded.
'Ben Aknoun Hospital also received 27 injured people, while Bab El Oued Hospital received 16.'
MC Alger posted once the first death had been confirmed.
They wrote: 'It is with great sadness and sorrow and with hearts that we received the news of our supporter Younes Amguzzi, who passed away after falling from the upper stands.'
News agency Reuters reported that several MC Alger players and staff went to the hospitals to donate blood for the injured.
The trophy presentation was postponed as a result of the desperately sad and worrying scenes.
Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune sent his condolences and best wishes to those affected by the 'painful tragedy'.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
News.com.au
9 hours ago
- News.com.au
Deaths confirmed, 80 injured as horror footage shows moment stadium collapsed
WARNING: The following report includes images that may cause distress Three football fans have died and at least 70 are injured after a horrific stadium disaster in Algeria on Sunday. Supporters were celebrating MC Alger winning their top-flight league title for the second year running. MC Alger clinched top spot with a 0-0 draw against NC Magra on Saturday. Players and coaches rejoiced on the pitch as fans set off green flares around the stadium, The Sun reports. However, during the euphoria, tragedy struck amid the celebrations in the packed-out Stade du 5 Juillet [5 July Stadium]. Dozens of fans fell from the upper stands of the 64,200-capacity stadium. Local reports suggested a section of the security barrier collapsed in the upper tier, meaning the jubilant supporters had nothing to stop them from falling to the stands below. More than 70 people have been treated in hospitals - but three sadly passed away, the health ministry confirmed. The Algerian Ministry of Health said: 'The Beni Messous University Hospital received 38 injured people, while three deaths were recorded. 'Ben Aknoun Hospital also received 27 injured people, while Bab El Oued Hospital received 16.' MC Alger posted once the first death had been confirmed. They wrote: 'It is with great sadness and sorrow and with hearts that we received the news of our supporter Younes Amguzzi, who passed away after falling from the upper stands.' News agency Reuters reported that several MC Alger players and staff went to the hospitals to donate blood for the injured. The trophy presentation was postponed as a result of the desperately sad and worrying scenes. Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune sent his condolences and best wishes to those affected by the 'painful tragedy'.
News.com.au
06-06-2025
- News.com.au
Imane Khelif goes missing after bombshell gender test leak
Imane Khelif will skip the Eindhoven Box Cup just a week after World Boxing announced mandatory sex testing for all athletes. The Algerian, along with Taiwan's Lin Yu-Ting, was the focal point of an explosive gender row that dominated the 2024 Olympics in Paris last summer. Khelif fought at the Games 18 months after being banned from competing at the Women's World Championships for allegedly failing a gender eligibility test, The Sun reports. The alleged test administered by the International Boxing Association is said to have determined that both Khelif and Yu-Ting have male XY chromosomes. The pair, however, were permitted to compete by the IOC because of their female passport statuses, to the fury of many. Less than a year after the scandal, World Boxing announced all participants in competitions under their jurisdiction will have to undergo sex testing. And Khelif won't be in action at their first event since the announcement in Eindhoven having missed the deadline to register. 'The decision of Imane's exclusion is not ours. We regret it,' Eindhoven Cup media director Dirk Renders said. Mayor of Eindhoven Joren Dijsselbloem has blasted World Boxing's decision to implement mandatory sex testing. In a letter to the Dutch Boxing Federation and the International Boxing Federation, he said: 'As far as we are concerned, all athletes are welcome in Eindhoven. 'Excluding athletes based on controversial 'gender tests' certainly does not fit in with that. 'We are expressing our disapproval of this decision today and are calling on the organisation to admit Imane Khelif after all.' Khelif won Algeria's first ever female gold medal in boxing at the Paris Games. The boxer was subjected to a torrent of abuse on social media after forcing Italy's Angele Carina to quit just 46 seconds into their opening bout. The stoppage of Carini sparked claims the gender eligibility test Khelif failed before the 2023 World Championships deemed her to be a 'biological male'. That alleged test, which was conducted in New Delhi, was recently published by 3 Wire Sports. The document claimed that chromosome analysis revealed a 'male karyotype'. A karotype is the set of chromosomes possessed by an individual. Khelif has yet to speak on the alleged report, but has maintained that she is a biological female from the outset. The Algerian has taken legal action against a number of prominent figures for alleged 'aggravated cyber-harassment', including Elon Musk and JK Rowling. The last ten months have been a rollercoaster of emotions for Khelif, who admits the ordeal has taken its toll. 'Immediately after, there was a big uproar from big politicians around the world, athletes around the world,' Khelif told El Birard. 'And even artists and stars, Elon Musk, Trump, this thing ... that affected me. 'I am not lying to you, it affected me. It affected me a lot, hurt me a lot. 'I can't describe to you the amount of fear I had. The scenario was very scary. 'Thank god, all the people of Algeria and the Arab world knew Imane Khelif with her femininity, her courage, her will. 'Honestly, I don't like to get into politics in sports, but they got into politics in sports. 'Sports and politics are two separate things. 'These politicians who are oppressing me, they don't have the right to say that I'm a transgender.'
News.com.au
05-06-2025
- News.com.au
Boxer Khelif not competing in latest tournament: organisers
Algerian Olympic champion boxer Imane Khelif, who is at the centre of a row over gender eligibility, will not compete in this week's tournament in The Netherlands, organisers said Thursday. Dirk Renders, spokesman for the Eindhoven Box Cup, confirmed to AFP the boxer would not be taking part, adding: "The decision of her exclusion is up to World Boxing." World Boxing has introduced mandatory gender testing for competitors over 18 and had informed the Algerian federation Khelif would have to undergo the test to compete in Eindhoven this week. Under the new policy, all athletes in World Boxing-sanctioned competitions need to take a PCR (polymerase chain reaction) test, to determine what sex they were at birth. The PCR test, conducted via a nasal or mouth swab, detects specific genetic material -- in this case the SRY gene -- that reveals the presence of the Y chromosome, an indicator of biological gender. The controversy around Khelif, who won Gold in the women's welterweight class in Paris, was one of the stories of the Games. The scandal erupted when Khelif defeated Italy's Angela Carini in 46 seconds in her opening bout, the Italian reduced to tears after suffered a badly hurt nose. Khelif and Taiwan's Lin Yu-ting, then found themselves at the centre of a gender row that attracted comments from US President Donald Trump and "Harry Potter" author Both boxers had been disqualified from the International Boxing Association's (IBA) 2023 world championships after the organisation said they had failed gender eligibility tests. But the International Olympic Committee later stripped the IBA of its right to organise the boxing in Paris over financial, governance, and ethical concerns. The IOC allowed them both to compete in Paris saying they had been victims of "a sudden and arbitrary decision by the IBA". "The two female athletes mentioned by the IBA are not transgender athletes," the IOC said in a statement to AFP in February. "They were born as women, were raised as women, and have competed in the women's category for their entire boxing careers," said the IOC. World Boxing will organise the boxing competition at the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics after the IOC granted it provisional recognition. - 'Born a woman' - Khelif is a role model to many in Algeria and received strong support from authorities and fans during the controversy in Paris. After winning Gold, she said the medal was the best response to her critics. "I am fully qualified to take part. I am a woman like any other. I was born a woman, lived a woman and competed as a woman," she said. The row rumbled on well beyond Paris, with the IBA saying in February it would sue the IOC for clearing Khelif to box at the Games. Khelif jabbed back that the accusations were "false and offensive", adding: "This is a matter that concerns not just me but the broader principles of fairness and due process in sport." She has vowed to take her own legal action to refute the accusations. "I am not going anywhere. I will fight in the ring, I will fight in the courts and I will fight in the public eye until the truth is undeniable," she said. World Boxing, which took over governance of the sport from the IBA, was forced into an embarrassing climbdown of its own earlier this week. It had initially named Khelif in its statement announcing the new testing policy but then rowed back. "The president of World Boxing does not think it was correct to have named a specific athlete" in the statement. The association wrote to the Algerian boxing authorities to apologise and acknowledge that "greater effort should have been made to avoid linking the policy to any individual". ric/ea
