Relatives hunt for the missing after Guinea stadium crush amid fears official death toll is too low

CONAKRY, Guinea — A distraught Kambaly Kouroumah is searching for his teenage brother, Adama, at a local morgue in southern Guinea’s Nzerekore city, where dozens of people died at a crowded stadium after chaos erupted during a soccer game.

Kouroumah is one of many bereaved people searching hospitals and mortuaries for missing relatives following Sunday’s tragic events during the final of a national tournament honoring military leader Mamadi Doumbouya.

Official estimates say 56 people died in the crush, but the unofficial death toll is at least 135, according to the Collective of Human Rights Organizations of the Nzerekore region. More than 50 people remain missing, including Adama, 15, who was “everything” to his devastated brother.

“I want to see him now, dead or alive,” a heartbroken Kouroumah said.

The world’s latest sports crowd disaster happened during the final of the tournament at the Third of April stadium in honor of Doumbouya, who overran the country’s elected president three years ago and added it to the list of several West African countries hit by military coups in recent years.

But for a football-loving nation hungry for its first World Cup qualification and an Africa Cup of Nations triumph, the two-week tournament in Nzerekore, almost 1,000 kilometers (621 miles) from the capital of Conakry, had attracted not just adults and youths, but also children.

Chaos had erupted at the crowded and open stadium after fans protested a referee’s penalty call and were throwing stones towards the field, according to witnesses and local media. Security forces reacted to the disturbance with tear gas as fans poured onto the pitch, survivors said.

While some fans managed to jump over the high fence to escape, videos from the scene showed many struggling to squeeze themselves through the main stadium entrance, ending up being crushed by the crowd.

Desperate fans were seen shouting and crying for help, many of them being trampled as they struggled to avoid the crush.

Among the dead was Jaquerine Keba Koévogui, 15, whose father said she rarely visited the stadium and, although she loved soccer, would always prefer to watch it on television.

“My daughter was with other members of the family, mostly boys who were able to jump over the stadium walls while she tried to get out through the entrance,” said Jules Koevogui, 42.

Mamadou Sanoh’s painful search for his 10-year-son ended with heartbreak.

“I went to the morgue and saw his body,” said Sanoh….