About this episode
The episode recounts Africa's worst football stadium disaster in Ghana, featuring eyewitness accounts and reflections from Herbert Mensah.
On 9 May 2001, 127 people died and dozens more were injured at the Accra Stadium in Ghana. It is Africa's worst football stadium tragedy. The disaster happened at the end of a match between Asante Kotoko and Hearts of Oak. Police fired tear gas after angry fans threw chairs onto the pitch. It caused a stampede. Herbert Mensah was the Asante Kotoko chairman at the time and speaks to Jen Dale about his recollections of that day. This programme contains distressing details. Eye-witness accounts brought to life by archive. Witness History is for those fascinated by and curious about the past. We take you to the events that have shaped our world through the eyes of the people who were there. For nine minutes every day, we take you back in time and all over the world, to examine wars, coups, scientific discoveries, cultural moments and much more. Recent episodes explore everything from how the Excel spreadsheet was developed, the creation of cartoon rabbit Miffy and how the sound barrier was broken. We look at the lives of some of the most famous leaders, artists, scientists and personalities in history, including: the moment Reagan and Gorbachev met in Geneva, Haitian singer Emerante…
People in this episode
Host: Jen Dale
Guest: Herbert Mensah
Topics covered
- stadium disaster
- football tragedy
- Ghana history
- eyewitness accounts
- police response
- sports culture
Keywords
- stadium disaster
- Ghana
- Herbert Mensah
- football tragedy
- Accra Stadium
- tear gas
- stampede
- Asante Kotoko
- Hearts of Oak
Mentioned in this episode
Organizations: Asante Kotoko, Hearts of Oak
Places: Ghana
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