Afcon stadium crush: 'The force behind forced us to fall'

On Monday, 46-year-old Cameroon fan Ndombi Irene was excited as she approached the Olembe Stadium with her son for the Africa Cup of Nations knock-out tie with Comoros. As she neared the stadium, her dreams turned into a nightmare as a crush left eight dead. She tells Piers Edwards her story here.

I realized the entrance was too small when we were approaching it.

The police asked us to stop. Maybe they wanted to do a check.

I observed from the crowd outside that it might be difficult for everyone to get into the stadium before 8pm when the match was supposed to start.

I couldn't go back and forward when I realized it was too late. I was stuck in the middle of the crowd and had to keep moving.

The crowd behind didn't know what was happening, so they kept coming and coming.

I wasn't in the first line. There were people in front of me. I was caught up in the middle of a group of people. I was stuck there for no more than 15 minutes.

When the pressure became too high, the smaller fences outside the Olembe Stadium were pushed over and people fell on them. The fences were held down by breeze blocks to stop people from passing.

The crowd was so large that there was a sudden trampling of people. The force behind forced us in front to fall, and those behind walked over us. The dust was on the floor.

I couldn't see because my vision was blurred. I was able to see again after a while. I couldn't talk for a while afterwards.

I was on the ground for about five minutes before someone was able to pull me out.

I was saved by someone pulling me out of the crowd by my head.

I am very lucky. Only two of us were alive when we were rushed to the hospital. I count myself very lucky to be alive because seven people around me were dead.

My son and three colleagues were with me. We are all alive.

I think the security agents didn't see that situation. They weren't prepared for it. It would have been better if they had provided spectators with a place to line up 300 metres before the entrance.

More than 1,000 people were at the entrance at the time, and the police officers could not manage the crowd.

If the police had pushed back the crowd towards the back, more people would have died.

I will never go to a football match again because of that experience.