Amid the chaos, anger was directed at those in charge at the Stade du 3 Avril on December 1, in Nzerekore, Guinea. The local police station just a few hundred metres away was set alight and vehicles belonging to the organisers of the football tournament were also burned. The charred shells of the vehicles remain two weeks on, the station no longer in use.

Nzerekore, the second-largest city of the West African country Guinea. Guinea’s government says 56 people died in the disaster, but domestic human rights organisations believe they have verified that at least 135 people – a significant number of those children.

The police and hospitals in the area declined to comment. The organisers (the Alliance of Young Forest Leaders) issued a statement in the hours that followed, but have also not responded to requests for guidance.

The statement read: “Following the tragedy that occurred at the stadium on April 3 during the final of the re-founding tournament held from November 16 to December 1 in Nzerekore, the Alliance of Young Forest Leaders, in the voice of its president, expresses its sincere condolences to the parents of the victims and salutes the promptness of the republican government in taking care of the injured and managing the bodies and other collateral damage.

“This sports competition, which was intended to be a moment to strengthen the social fabric and live together, has unfortunately turned into a drama, causing the loss of human lives and several serious injuries.

“As the main organiser of this tournament, we wish a speedy recovery to the injured and eternal rest to the dead.”

The police and security forces are blamed by many of those at the game for firing the teargas rounds that created a dense noxious fog in the stands and pitch area. Contacted for comment on whether on  the  government regarded this action as proportionate in the circumstances, but there was still no response at the time of publication.

Prime Minister Amadou Oury Bah made a flying visit in the hours that followed the disaster, but it only lasted a few hours before he returned to the capital, Conakry, 500 miles away. Three days of mourning were announced and Bah Oury, as he is commonly known in Guinea, ordered the courts to open an investigation into the events in Nzerekore.

In a statement after the tragedy, the government said: “The High Authority for Communication (HAC) learned with deep sadness of the unfortunate outcome of the final of the football tournament on Sunday, December 1, 2024, in Nzerekore. It presents its condolences to the grieving families and wishes a speedy recovery to the injured in these difficult times.

“Given the social impact of this circumstance, the HAC asks journalists for more professionalism and responsibility in dealing with this painful event that afflicts the entire Guinean nation.”

Fifa’s stadium safety and security regulations expressly say that “no firearms or crowd control gas shall be carried or used” in stadiums.

“I call on the relevant authorities to ensure that the appropriate steps are taken to ensure similar incidents do not occur again and that all players, staff, officials and supporters are safe to play, watch and enjoy football anywhere in the world,” said Fifa president Gianni Infantino.

Football’s world governing body says it will allow the Confederation of African Football (CAF) and Guinea’s Football Federation (Feguifoot) to take the lead on the matter. Feguifoot is taking international and continental club fixtures outside the country due to political instability.

All three football bodies said the match at the Nzerekore stadium was deemed an “unofficial” game and therefore they are not obliged to look into it. “We give space to government in the country to conduct necessary investigations,” a CAF spokesperson explained.

Whether unofficial or not, Nzerekore has followed in the footsteps of two other significant teargas-related football incidents in recent years. In 2022, Liverpool fans were penned in outside the Stade de France in Paris before the Champions League final. Later that year, at least 135 people died at the Kanjuruhan Stadium in Malang, Indonesia, after police fired tear gas into the stands, leading to crushes at multiple gates.

At least 135 dead, 51 of them children – a year on from the Kanjuruhan stadium disaster, what has been done?

People want answers.

Mamadi Sanoh lost his 10-year-old son in the Nzerekore disaster. “These announcements are meaningless,” he says. “Because since the tragedy happened, we have not seen anyone from the state come to console us and ask how we feel to show that they are with us. They just came to write our names and the names of our missing sons on lists, that’s all.”

Some have still not found loved ones two weeks on.

“The children went to the stadium without me knowing,” explains Amara Soumaoro, sitting outside his home. “When they heard the final was at the stadium, they hid to get there. When the chaos started, it was my wife who called to inform me that the children hadn’t returned home yet.

“I searched for them all night but couldn’t find them. It wasn’t until the next day, around 10am, that I found my little girl (Matenin, 10), who was badly wounded. She had fallen into the pushing crowd and people stepped on her. She had several wounds on her head and face. Her condition was very critical.”

His niece, Mafatta Sagno, 16, is still missing: “We have no news of her. We don’t know if she’s alive or dead. We’ve done everything we can to find her: broadcast messages on the radio, went to the hospital, the military camp and alerted the security services, but nothing. If I’d at least seen her body, there’d be an answer. We have no trace of her. Where is she? That’s what we want to know.”

Mory Cisse recently lost his elderly father, Mamadou. His younger brother, Lansana, had come from out of town to Nzerekore for the funeral. He stayed an extra day for the game and the brothers went together. Maurice left early to go to his niece’s wedding – it was the last time he saw his brother alive.

“I couldn’t get through (when I learned of the incident). I did everything I could, it rang, but nobody picked up, so I was really worried,” he says.

“I went to the hospital and saw a lot of dead people there. I started looking for my younger brother among the corpses, but I couldn’t find him. Then I looked at the mortuary. I looked and looked and then yes, I found him. It’s unbearable.”

Joel Gbamou searched for 24 hours for his nephews, Delphin (18) and Dominique (13), whom he called his sons. “Eventually someone in the morgue said he had seen the bodies, so I had to go in and identify them,” he says. “It’s been a huge shock. I am trying to be strong. If you met my family, then you would see how emotional they are.”

Emmanuel Sagno is in charge of the region’s non-governmental human rights defence collective, the OGDH. It has worked to clarify the real death toll of the tragedy by visiting hospitals, morgues, mosques, churches, schools and places of work.

“Three days after the incident, we declared at least 135 were dead, having spoken to multiple different sources. But that number may be much higher,” he says. “One father told us that all five of his children died in this tragedy. He is inconsolable.”

He says the factors that led to the disaster include overcrowding and “the excessive use of tear gas”. He says the government should work collaboratively with the human rights organisations.

“If they want to get to the truth, it should be done together. In the meantime, our goal is to identify the victims and provide them with all the psychosocial support they need to overcome the situation they’ve lived through,” he says. “We want to make sure there is enough humanitarian support, whether that’s food or friendship. We need to lodge complaints with the national and international courts so justice can be met.”

On Friday, Amnesty International called for an “independent and impartial investigation” into what went on at the stadium and the behaviour of the security forces.

“The government’s current silence, coupled with a restriction on internet access in the city, rightly raises suspicions about the authorities’ willingness to take the full measure of the tragedy,” said Samira Daoud, Amnesty International’s regional director for west and central Africa.

“Based on credible information, many organisations and witnesses interviewed by Amnesty International have denounced the inaccuracy of the official death toll following the incident at the stadium, arguing that it could be much higher.”

The United Nations called an emergency meeting to coordinate an immediate response to help with humanitarian, medical and psychological assistance for victims and their relatives. The organisation’s Guinea coordinator, Kristele Younes, said: “This tragedy is a painful reminder of the crucial importance of ensuring safety in public places. The authorities’ commitment to conduct a thorough investigation is an essential step in shedding light on the facts, strengthening preventive measures and ensuring justice.”

The aid organisation already works closely with UNICEF, the World Food Programme and the World Health Organisation in the city, with regular humanitarian aid flights to Nzerekore.

At the stadium, graffiti on the walls demands justice. The children who escaped the tragedy have started to return and they play football on the patch of land next to the main gate where so many young lives were lost.

One boy makes a line in the sand to mark out the pitch. Life goes on in Nzerekore, but the search for the truth – and justice for the dead and missing – has only just started.

• A tell report / Republished from The Athletic