SAN SALVADOR~, In connection with a stampede that occurred during a soccer match in El Salvador over the weekend, the police have detained the president of the soccer team Alianza, in addition to several club officials and stadium workers. Twelve spectators were killed in the incident.
On Thursday, the Office of the Attorney General announced that many individuals, including the President of Alianza Pedro Hernández and the Club Security Manager Edwin Abarca Ventura, were taken into custody. There was an initial lack of clarity regarding who their attorneys were. They were scheduled to make their initial court appearances in the following days, at which time they might be charged with manslaughter, as well as inflicting injury and public havoc.
The authorities reported that hundreds of supporters were angry on Saturday night because they were not permitted to enter the stadium despite the fact that they had tickets. They pushed until they were able to bring down an entrance gate, and as a result, many people were injured or killed as a result of the strain. The prosecutors think that the game’s organizers broke the law by selling more tickets than they were allowed to sell. The chief of the National Civil Police of Guatemala, Mauricio Arriaza Chicas, stated that his agency was also looking into the club’s organized fan organizations.
When players on the field started glancing toward the spectators, there was still a lot of time left in the first quarter of the game. spectators who had lost consciousness were being brought out of an entrance tunnel and onto the field, where other spectators were desperately trying to bring them back to life.
The Disciplinary Committee of the Salvadoran Soccer Federation met earlier this week and came to the conclusion that Alianza would have to play without fans for a whole year and pay a fine of $30,000. On Wednesday, the professional first division and the federation both made the announcement that the season had come to an end. They added in a statement, “Our priority will be to ensure that security measures are strengthened as soccer events.”
News on SNBC13.com
