In Ghana, two stampedes kill six people and injure dozens
Two military recruitment exercises in Kumasi and Accra led to separate stampedes that killed at least six people and wounded dozens on Wednesday, causing a temporary suspension of events.
The Ghana Armed Forces said in a broadcast statement that the Accra stampede occurred around 6:20 a.m. when a surge of applicants “breached security protocols and rushed” into the El-Wak Sports Stadium ahead of scheduled screenings.
“We witnessed a sad event today, we encountered a disaster,” President John Mahama told TRT World.
Ashanti Regional Minister Frank Amoakohene confirmed that Kumasi’s stampede occurred at Baba Yara Sports Stadium, where at least five recruits, who are now receiving medical care, suffered “severe injuries.”
Mahama previously mandated that the recruitment drives be open to the public to provide young people with equal access to join the military. As Ghana battles youth unemployment rates of roughly 39% — and nearly 68% of employed youth work in low-paying, short-term “vulnerable jobs” — the recruitments often attract large crowds of young people.
Later that day, the president arrived at 37 Military Hospital in Accra, where 28 people sought medical treatment. Six have died, five are in the Intensive Care Unit and 12 remain in critical condition. Military officials said that families of the deceased are being contacted and that they will continue to monitor the situation.
In China, residents are safe after bridge collapse
No casualties were reported after the newly built Hongqi Bridge partially collapsed following a landslide in China’s southwest Sichuan province.
Authorities closed the nearly 2,500-foot bridge — which was completed in January and is part of a national highway that connects to Tibet — on Monday, after cracks were found on surrounding roads and slopes. By Tuesday afternoon, the landslide’s worsening conditions led to the partial collapse, officials said.
One truck was on the bridge at the time of the collapse, though the driver was rescued successfully, according to Chinese media.
The construction comes during a surge of hundreds of bridge projects in China, many of which have piled up debt despite the use of government loans. The incident follows the northwest Shanghai-Qinghai railway collapse in August over a major river, which killed at least 12 workers and left four missing.
A detour is now in place, and it is unclear when the bridge will reopen, according to government officials.
In Spain, all poultry confined due to rising bird flu
The Spanish Agriculture Ministry ordered all free-range poultry farms to immediately confine their birds on Thursday as a preventive measure against rising bird flu cases.
The new measure expands on others imposed last week, which required poultry in high-risk areas to be confined indoors. Its policies also ban breeding poultry outdoors, sharing water sources with wild birds and raising ducks and geese alongside other species. Spain has locked down about 1,200 high-risk municipalities since Monday, and has seen 14 bird flu outbreaks on farms this year.
“In Spain, it has been proven that there are a lot of birds migrating in humid areas,” the ministry said in a statement. “The measure tries to avoid that poultry can be in contact with migrating birds that carry the virus.”
Officials also said that they can grant permission to keep domestic birds outdoors “if contact with wild birds can be effectively prevented using some type of enclosure or device.” Interested farmers can apply for permission through their county agriculture office if they meet the given requirements.
Concerns have spiked across Europe and the United States, where about seven million farmed birds have died of bird flu since September. Countries including Ireland, France, England, Belgium and the Netherlands have already taken steps to address risks as birds migrate to Europe for the winter. Germany stands as the most affected EU country this season, with 58 of the 136 reported outbreaks across the continent.
Contact Eva Mundo at [email protected].
