The Mawazine stampede occurred on May 23, 2009, at Hay Nahda stadium in Rabat, during the Mawazine music festival. At least 11 people are reported to have died, including 5 women, 4 men, and 2 children.[1]
Eleven people were killed and forty were injured in a stampede at the Hay Nahda soccer stadium during the festival shortly after midnight on 24 May 2009.[2] The incident occurred when spectators attempted to leave in a hurry near the end of a free[3] concert by Moroccan pop star Abdelaziz Stati.[4] A wire fence collapsed during this attempt, endangering the lives of the 70,000 spectators.[2][4][5][6][7] The concert had begun at 23:00, later than billed, and this caused people attending other concerts, including one by Stevie Wonder, to go to the stadium when their concerts were finished.[3] The event had previously been moved from a smaller venue to meet a demanding crowd.[3]
Most of the injured were young.[3][8] Eight of the victims were seriously injured.[4] Five of the dead were women, four were men and two were teenagers.[4][6] They were all discovered after the stampede had completed and found to have been suffocated by crushing.[3][6][7][8] Survivors had to be pulled from the wreckage by rescuers.[2] The dead were all Moroccan.[8] Seven were still in hospital the following day.[6]
Hassan Lamrani, the Governor of Rabat, blamed concert-goers for the stampede, saying that they had "decided to go over the metal barriers to have a quick exit".[2] However, one injured concert-goer questioned why police had shut the doors and had not intervened when the incident had become serious.[2] There were 3,000 police on duty at the event.[3] Maroc Cultures issued a statement to express "its great sorrow", extending "its profound and sincere condolences" to those affected by the tragedy.[3] King Mohammed VI also sent the families of those affected messages of condolence and offered to pay for funeral services and hospital costs.[3] Morocco's interior ministry has announced it will investigate the incident.[3]
