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Witness History

Africa's worst stadium disaster

Witness History

BBC

History, Personal Journals, Society & Culture

4.5 • 1.6K Ratings

🗓️ 7 May 2026

⏱️ 11 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

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.

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You can learn all about fascinating and surprising stories, like the invention of a stent which has saved lives around the world; the birth of the G7; and the meeting of Maldives’ ministers underwater. We cover everything from World War Two and Cold War stories to Black History Month and our journeys into space.

(Photo: Residents look at the empty Accra stadium after the stampede. Credit: Photo by Issouf Sanogo/AFP via Getty Images)

Transcript

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0:00.0

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0:34.8

Hello, welcome to witness history with me, Jen Dale. Now, if this is one of your favourite

0:40.6

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0:45.9

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0:51.2

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0:56.6

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1:00.8

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1:05.0

But for now, let's get to the story.

1:07.7

I'm taking you back 25 years to Africa's worst stadium disaster, and just to warn you,

1:13.3

it contains distressing details. In Ghana, about 130 people have been killed in a stampede at a

1:19.3

football stadium. Most of the victims were crushed as police fired tear gas after unrest during a

1:25.0

match in Accra between the country's two top teams.

1:28.3

It's May 9th, 2001,

1:30.5

and at the Accra Sports Stadium in Ghana's capital city,

1:34.0

hearts of oak are preparing to take on Asante Cotico.

1:37.9

It's a big evening derby clash in Ghana's Premier League.

...

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