Stampede Kills 23 in Sudan Stadium

By AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE

Published: July 14, 2008

KHARTOUM, Sudan (Agence France-Presse) — A stampede left 23 people dead at a Sudanese soccer stadium on Sunday during a graduation ceremony for young people embarking on their national military service, police and hospital officials said.

“Crowds trying to get into Khartoum stadium led to the deaths of 23 people,” the police said in a statement. “The majority of them are women and children.”

Thirty-six people who were injured were being treated at a local hospital, the police said.

Relatives flocked to the stadium in Khartoum’s twin city of Omdurman to watch the graduates as they completed their basic training before going on to their one-year obligatory service.

Good Lord.  I thought that I knew what hot was from living in tropical Bangkok for the past several years.  But over the past few days in Khartoum, it’s been a steady, consistent 43°C (that’s about 110°F for you folks that insist on never learning the metric system!).  I can’t help but keep thinking that it’s hotter than it takes to boil water outside.

When I stand outside, I can quite literally feel my skin cooking.  It’s not a good feeling.

I guess I’ll just keep being a wimp and stay inside where the air conditioning helps.  I feel guilty using it when the world is in an energy crisis, but it’s like crack cocaine for me.  Since I know the air conditioner is there, I just HAVE to use it. If it was broken, I think I’d flip out and go a little bit crazy.

Let’s all pray I don’t have to find out.

oday, it rained. It felt a little bit like being in the movie “Dune” where Paul finally makes it rain in the desert. Of course, our rain wasn’t as grand. It lasted a whole five minutes. But, what really amazed me is the sandstorm that preceded the rain.

Call me a typical tourist, but I had to get out my camera and snap a few pictures – while this was probably an every day event to the long time residents of Khartoum, it was a first for me. I’m certain this was probably a small storm, but I was as excited as a kid during its first Christmas! Through the power of a cool little software tool that stitches together photos to make a panorama (yes, I know my camera probably does it, but I like to do things the hard way), I have this to offer:

I took this picture outside my bedroom, so I was indeed in the path. It didn’t last long, but the smell of the dust in the air was unmistakable. It struck me that this wall of nasty didn’t really move very fast — it took about five minutes for it to travel from where you see it in this picture to the house. So, I do wonder if there are really bigger, faster storms as portrayed in the movies (like The Mummy). I tend to think not, but, what do I know? My sandstorm cherry was just popped today. By the end of the year, I might be able to answer that thought.

All in all, pretty cool.