The results of a stampede in a Bangui high school where the baccalaureate tests were held this week was revised downwards at 20 dead on Saturday, against 29 previously announced.
The crowd movement, during which supervisors and students tried to flee, some by jumping from the first floor of the establishment Barthélémy Boganda, was caused by the explosion of an electric transformer.
Government spokesperson and Minister of Communication Maxime Balalou announced on Saturday “20 deaths recorded among our young people in the various Morgues, 69 cases of hospitalization on the first day, 65 cases under surveillance on Thursday, June 26, 2025, including 4 serious cases in the trauma services of the community hospital and in the pediatric complex”.
On Thursday, government sources announced 29 dead and nearly 300 injured.
In addition, Mr. Balalou also announced the death of the president of one of the two examination centers of the Boganda high school, “from a discomfort linked to this event”.
At the same time, seven members of civil society were released on Saturday after being arrested the day before at the end of an unauthorized rally in Bangui in memory of high school students killed.
“I was heard for two hours this morning,” said Gervais Lakosso, the coordinator of the Civil Society Working Group (GTSC) arrested Friday evening after the unauthorized rally.
GTSC officials were arrested on Friday for “organization of a prohibited and disturbing demonstration to public order,” Mr. Lakosso told AFP.
According to Mr. Balalou, the head of state Faustin Archangel Touadéra asked on Saturday the release of the people arrested.
The tribute, which brought together a hundred participants who came to deposit a candle on Friday evening, had been prohibited due in particular to a risk of overflow, according to the authorities.
A three -day national mourning has been decreed and an investigation open into the circumstances of the drama.
Managers of the National Electricity Company, Enerca, were suspended from their functions and heard in this case, according to ENERCA and the authorities.
AFP
