Stadium disaster remembered

A short ceremony in honour of the 126 victims who died in the infamous stadium disaster on May 9, two years ago, was held at the fore court of the Accra Sports Stadium on Friday.

The second anniversary of the incident,, which was graced by ministers of states, representatives of Accra Hearts of Oak, Kumasi Asante Kotoko and the bereaved family, saw the Honourable Jake Obetsebi Lamptey, Minister of Tourism and City Modernisation unveiled a monument built in honour of the 126 victims of the disaster.

The minister who represented the government and the people of Ghana said May 9th would never be forgotten as it brought grief, pain and agony to the entire nation.

He called on Ghanaians and soccer fans alike to use the day as a constant reminder on the need to tolerate each other even in the face of hardship and defeat, adding that "let us be unified by the remembrance of this tragic and horrific event regardless of our differences".

Honourable Kwajo Baah Wiredu, Minister of Youth, Education and Sports (YES) who was making his first public appearance after assuming the position bemoaned the tragedy and called on Ghanaians to resolve never to see the reoccurrence of the tragedy.

The monument which is erected partly in front of the stadium clinic has the names of all 126 victims inscribed beneath whiles the national and flags of Hearts and Kotoko are erected around.

The monument dubbed "Gbomo Nyemi ji Gbomo" literally meaning "You are each others keeper" has a huge statue of a man in pain yet carrying another injured person at his back.

Trees were planted by Mr. Lemptey, Mr Fiifi Forson and Mr Amoa Bosompim for the government, Hearts and Kotoko respectively.

It would be recalled that the infamous disaster occurred when Hearts and Kotoko played in a mid -week league match at the Accra Sports Stadium on Wednesday, May 9th 2001.

The match which ended 2-1 in favour of Hearts saw the porcupine warriors scoring first through Lawrence Adjei whiles Ishmael Addo equalised and scored the match winner for the Phobians.