PanamaTimes

Sunday, Jul 06, 2025

El Salvador mourns 12 killed in soccer stadium stampede

El Salvador mourns 12 killed in soccer stadium stampede

El Salvador soccer fans were mourning Sunday after 12 people died and hundreds were injured in a stampede at a stadium, with the country’s president vowing an investigation.
Authorities said initial reports pointed to a crush of fans who tried to enter the 35,000-seat Cuscatlan Stadium in the Central American country’s capital San Salvador to watch a game between two local teams, Alianza and FAS.

The match was suspended as emergency personnel evacuated people from the stadium, where hundreds of police officers and soldiers gathered as ambulance sirens wailed.

Carlos Fuentes, spokesman for the emergency services group Comandos de Salvamento, said they were treating more than 500 people for various injuries, while civil protection authorities said 88 people in total were hospitalized.

The stampede started after a stadium gate fell, causing people to crowd together, Fuentes said.

Fredy Alexander Ruiz, a 28-year-old survivor, said he was "traumatized from seeing people thrown on the ground, dead, bruised, with their faces stepped on."

The stampede started 10 minutes into the game and after it was suspended even the players joined in the frantic rescue efforts.

"I had five people on top of me that were suffocating me," said Ruiz. "Thank God, I was able to grab the foot of a policeman, and he and a friend of mine pulled me out."

On Sunday night, dozens of Alianza fans set up a memorial to victims, placing a "Rest in peace" banner on the stadium wall, where they also left flowers and 12 candles to represent the dead.

After saying a prayer, the fans left, some of them in tears.

El Salvador’s President Nayib Bukele said Saturday that authorities would investigate the incident and those responsible would be punished.

"Everyone will be investigated: teams, managers, stadium, box office, league, federation," Bukele said on Twitter.

He warned that "whoever the culprits are, they will not go unpunished."

Survivor Sandra Guzman described chaos at the stadium in the moments the stampede began.

“A huge crowd of people fell on me. I couldn’t even breathe, they were choking me,” Guzman, 40, told AFP early Sunday as she was leaving the Rosales National Hospital.

When she was in front of the stadium gate that collapsed, she said, “people were pushing me to get in. They did not give me a chance to go back.”

She panicked when people toppled onto her, Guzman said. “I fainted, and when I woke up I was in the hospital.”

The Salvadoran Football Federation (Fesfut) said in a statement it “deeply regrets” the events that occurred at the stadium and “expresses its solidarity” with the families of those “affected and killed.”

“Fesfut will immediately request a report of what happened and will communicate the relevant information as soon as possible,” it said.

Due to the incident, the federation said “all soccer is suspended at the national level” on Sunday.

The chief of world soccer body FIFA offered his condolences after the “tragic” stampede.

The tragedy comes seven months after 135 people, including more than 40 children, were killed in a stampede following a football match in Malang, Indonesia.
Newsletter

Related Articles

PanamaTimes
0:00
0:00
Close
U.S. Enacts Sweeping Tax and Spending Legislation Amid Trade Policy Shifts
AI Raises Alarms Over Long-Term Job Security
House Oversight Committee Subpoenas Former Jill Biden Aide Amid Investigation into Alleged Concealment of President Biden's Cognitive Health
OpenAI Secures Multimillion-Dollar AI Contracts with Pentagon, India, and Grab
Brazilian Congress Rejects Lula's Proposed Tax Increase on Financial Transactions
Landslide in Bello, Colombia, Results in Multiple Casualties
Papa Johns pizza surge near the Pentagon tipped off social media before Trump's decisive Iran strike
Juncker Criticizes EU Inaction on Trump Tariffs
Minnesota Lawmaker Melissa Hortman and Husband Killed in Targeted Attack; Senator John Hoffman and Wife Injured
Wreck of $17 Billion San José Galleon Identified Off Colombia After 300 Years
Sole Survivor of Air India Crash Recounts Escape
Coinbase CEO Warns Bitcoin Could Supplant US Dollar Amid Mounting National Debt
UK and EU Reach Agreement on Gibraltar's Schengen Integration
Israeli Finance Minister Imposes Banking Penalties on Palestinians
U.S. Inflation Rises to 2.4% in May Amid Trade Tensions
Trump's Policies Prompt Decline in Chinese Student Enrollment in U.S.
Global Oceans Near Record Temperatures as CO₂ Levels Climb
Trump Announces U.S.-China Trade Deal Covering Rare Earths
Smuggled U.S. Fuel Funds Mexican Cartels Amid Crackdown
Protests Erupt in Los Angeles with Symbolic Flag Burning
Trump Administration Issues New Travel Ban Targeting 12 Countries
Man Group Mandates Full-Time Office Return for Quantitative Analysts
JPMorgan Warns Analysts Against Accepting Future-Dated Job Offers
Builder.ai Faces Legal Scrutiny Amid Financial Misreporting Allegations
Japan Grapples with Rice Shortage Amid Soaring Prices
Goldman Sachs Reduces Risk Exposure Amid Market Volatility
HSBC Chairman Mark Tucker to Return to AIA as Non-Executive Chair
Israel Confirms Arming Gaza Clan to Counter Hamas Influence
Judge Blocks Trump's Ban on International Students at Harvard
Trump Proposes Travel Ban on 'Uncontrolled' Countries
Panama Port Owner Balances US-China Pressures
Trump Administration Accused of Obstructing Deportation Cases
Trump’s China Strategy Remains a Geopolitical Puzzle
Eurozone Inflation Falls Below ECB Target to 1.9%
Call for a New Chapter in Globalisation Emerges
Blackstone and Rivals Diverge on Private Equity Strategy
Mayor’s Security Officer Implicated | Shocking New Details Emerge in NYC Kidnapping Case
Bangkok Ranked World's Top City for Remote Work in 2025
Denmark Increases Retirement Age to 70, Setting a European Precedent
Netanyahu Accuses Western Leaders of 'Emboldening Hamas'
Escalating Trade Tensions and Market Reactions
OnlyFans Reportedly in Talks for $8 Billion Sale
JBS Gains Shareholder Approval for U.S. Stock Listing
Booz Allen Hamilton to Cut 2,500 Jobs Amid Federal Spending Reductions
Trump Signs Executive Orders to Accelerate Nuclear Energy Development
Harvard Temporarily Blocks Trump Administration's International Student Ban
Nippon Steel Forms Partnership with U.S. Steel, Headquarters to Remain in Pittsburgh
Trump Expands Tariff Threats to Apple and Samsung Devices
Oracle and OpenAI Plan $40 Billion Nvidia Chip Purchase for AI Data Center
Trump Threatens 50% Tariff on EU Goods, Markets React
×