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Eight dead in Senegal stadium wall collapse

SEYLLOU / AFP / Getty

Eight people are dead and at least 49 injured after a wall collapsed at a football stadium in the Senegalese capital of Dakar.

The incident occurred during the final moments of a League Cup final between Union Sportive Ouakam and Stade de Mbour at the Demba Diop stadium when groups of supporters clashed.

Mbour scored to go up 2-1 in the first period of extra-time, with the referee's final whistle prompting violence between fans that escalated until police became involved, which according to the BBC resulted in a stampede and wall collapse.

Photos show fans fleeing as police fired tear gas into the crowd, resulting in a stampede and the collapse of a low wall.

"All of a sudden when the wall fell... we knew exactly that some of our own had lost their lives because the wall fell directly on to people," Cheikh Maba Diop, who lost a friend during the stampede, told AFP.

A spokesman for President Macky Sall said campaigning for the upcoming elections would be suspended Sunday in light of the incident, and that there would be "punishments serving as a warning."

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