SOCCER
Agency blames fans without tickets for stadium deaths
'As the gate flung open due to the pressure — chants of Push! Push! Push! were heard by eyewitnesses'
The accident during the Soweto soccer derby between Kaizer Chiefs and Orlando Pirates at the FNB Stadium on Saturday in which two people were killed and 20 others injured was caused by fans without tickets trying to gain access to the stadium‚ Stadium Management SA said on Sunday. Despite the presence of the police and private security a small group of people without match tickets "forced a number of emergency gates open in a rolling wave, breaching the perimeter gates gaining illegal access to the stadium" at about 3.10pm on Saturday, 20 minutes before the scheduled kick-off of the Carling Black Label Cup match at FNB Stadium‚ Stadium Management SA said. However‚ it dismissed claims of a stampede. "As the gate flung open due to the pressure of these people pushing on the gate — chants of ‘Push! Push! Push!’ were heard by eyewitnesses — the people pushing at the front of the gate fell over and the people from behind literally clambered right over them‚ causing blunt-force trauma inj...
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