Today in History: Hail causes stampede at soccer match in Nepal
The storm approached quickly and hail began pelting the spectators.
On this day in 1988, a sudden hailstorm prompted fans at a soccer match in Katmandu, Nepal to flee, with the resulting stampede killing at least 70 people and injuring hundreds more.
Approximately 30 000 people were watching the final of the Tribhuvan Challenge Shield 1988 between the Nepalese home team, Janakpur, and Muktijodha, of Bangladesh, at the Dasarath Rangasala Stadium. When the fans panicked and rushed to the exits, they found the gates locked, apparently to keep people without tickets from entering the stadium.
As fans continued to push forward toward the exits, they found there was nowhere for them to go. The victims of the stampede, unable to breathe, were literally crushed to death.
The stampede in Nepal apparently did little to prevent similar disasters. A year after the tragedy at Dasarath Rangasala Stadium, 96 people were crushed to death at a game between Liverpool and Nottingham Forest in Sheffield, England. Another 18 months later, more than 40 people were trampled to death at a game in Orkney, South Africa.
Hail on its own can also be deadly. There are several recorded instances of hail crushing people’s skulls due to the size of the hailstones and the force with which they struck. In 1923 in Kostov, Russia, 23 people were killed in a single hailstorm as they attempted to save their livestock. Twenty-two were killed in Greece in 1930 by hailstones the size of eggs.
Information courtesy of: https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/hail-causes-stampede-at-soccer-match-in-nepal.
