May 9 Victims Remembered

The Minister of Youth and Sports, Elvis Afriyie Ankrah, yesterday joined a number of football fans and officials of the National Sports Authority (NSA) to commemorate the 13th anniversary of the May 9 tragedy. A wreath laying ceremony was held at the May 9 monument at the entrance of the Accra Sports Stadium to commemorate the day. Time may have assuaged the pain of families of victims of Africa�s worst stadium disaster where 126 football fans perished during a stampede after a league match between Accra Hearts of Oak and Kumasi Asante Kotoko at the Accra stadium. Fewer football fans, club officials and families of victims participated in yesterday�s ceremony at which the Minister, assisted by the acting Director General of the National Sports Authority (NSA), Alice Attipoe, led a group of supporters to pay tribute to the victims. In a speech, Mr Ankrah pledged the government�s support to the bereaved families and later laid a wreath on behalf of the government and people of Ghana. A representative each of Hearts, Kotoko and the bereaved families laid wreaths in memory of the victims. Addressing the media at the event, the secretary of the Stadium Disaster Board of Trustees, Christopher Annan, said 90 children out of the 130 that lost their parents during the tragedy have been enrolled in schools, with 55 of them at the basic level, 26 in at the secondary level and nine in tertiary schools out of which five had graduated.