Fund for football tragedy victims

A simple reminder of the tragedy at Ellis Park

More than one million rand (about $125,000) has been collected for a fund set up to pay the funeral costs of the 43 people who died in the football stadium tragedy in Johannesburg on Wednesday night.

Just under half the money has come from the two clubs involved in the league match at Ellis Park, where the disaster occurred.

Kaizer Chiefs and Orlando Pirates have pledged R200,000 each (about $25,000). Their donations have been matched by the South African Football Association (Safa) and the Premier Soccer League.

Other donations to the fund have come in from trade unions, corporate business and private individuals.

The money will also be used to pay the hospital bills of those injured. A total of 160 were injured in the tragedy, 89 of them hospitalised.

South African President Thabo Mbeki has set up a full judicial inquiry to look into how the disaster happened.

He said: "It is important that every element of the tragedy be looked at so all necessary measures could be taken so it does not happen again."

Crisis centre set up

The South African Football Association said on Friday that only 13 of the injured remained in hospital, and eight of those were due to be discharged before the weekend.

Mourners have been gathering outside the mortuary

Of the five who would remain in hospital, three were in a serious, but not life-threatening, condition.

Players from both clubs visited the injured in hospital on Friday.

The Orlando Pirates players brought meat pies, fruit and pastries to patients treated in Johannesburg Hospital.

The team's choir sang in the background as they moved from bed to bed saying prayers and exchanging hugs with victims of Wednesday night's disaster.

A special crisis centre has been set up and officials were still verifying the identities of some of the dead on Friday. This process is expected to take until Tuesday.

Several memorial services and funerals will be held over the next few days.

Plans have been announced to hold a public memorial ceremony on Sunday at Ellis Park.

Stadium officials expect 30,000 people at the service, with President Thabo Mbeki and players from the Chiefs and Pirates also due to attend.

Mourning

All soccer matches in South Africa have been cancelled over the Easter weekend.

A minute's silence was observed on Friday in New Zealand, where the Auckland Blues rugby team were playing the Cats from Johannesburg.

The chief executive officer of Safa, Danny Jordaan, has said that the tragedy will not affect the country's plans to bid for the 2010 World Cup.

President Mbeki also believes that the tragedy will not damage South Africa's chances in winning the bid.

He pointed out that a stampede caused the Hillsborough disaster in the UK in which 96 fans died.

He said: "It doesn't mean soccer in the United Kingdom is not capable of handling soccer crowds."