A stampede outside a stadium in southern Iraq Thursday killed at least two people and injured dozens, a health official said.
The deadly incident happened as spectators gathered to attend the final match in the first international soccer tournament held in the country in four decades.
The official Iraqi News Agency said some of the 60 people who were injured outside the Basra International Stadium were in critical condition.
A physician at Basra General Hospital told The Associated Press that two people were killed and 38 were injured, some of whom have been discharged from the hospital. The physician spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk to the media.
Iraq’s Interior Ministry in a statement urged people without tickets for the final match to leave the stadium area. It said the stadium was full and that all gates had been closed.
Iraq’s new Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani, who arrived in Basra on Thursday, urged people to help authorities in order to “show the final match of 25th edition of the Gulf Cup in its most beautiful form.”
Later, the Iraqi News Agency reported that giant screens were placed in different public places, as well as another stadium in Basra, so that people can watch the match. The game in the eight-nation Arabian Gulf Cup will see Iraq play Oman later Thursday. (AP)