Mother Abena Fosuah, whose 22-year-old daughter, Benedicta Agyeiwaa, was among the injured victims of the Ghana Armed Forces (GAF) recruitment stampede at the El-Wak Sports Stadium, says she is still in severe pain days after the tragic incident.
Speaking in an interview on Adom FM’s morning show Dwaso Nsem, she narrated the traumatic experience her daughter has endured.
“My daughter is still in pain,” she said. “She was injured in her legs, her eyes and her chest. She told me there is blood in her eyes and she keeps complaining that her whole body hurts.”
According to her, Benedicta was taken to the eye clinic on Thursday, where she was given medication, and the pain in one of her legs became unbearable.
“One of her legs was hurting so much she couldn’t handle it at all. When they admitted her at the 37 Military Hospital, she told them about the pain. They cleaned it with a medication they called ‘spirit’, but she was still complaining” she said.
Madam Fosuah said her daughter had been on admission at the 37 Military Hospital from Wednesday until she was discharged on Thursday evening — even though she still struggled to walk properly.
“She couldn’t walk well, yet they discharged her saying she was okay. But she was still in pain, so we had to take her to another hospital. They treated the wound and dressed it. The sore is not very big, but the pain was too much for her,” she explained.
She added that during the stampede, many people stepped on her daughter’s chest, leaving her breathless.
“People stepped on her chest. She didn’t even know what was happening until she was brought to the hospital,” she said.
Madam Fosuah also recalled the terrifying moment doctors told her that Benedicta was unconscious.
“When we got to 37, they told us my daughter was in a coma. She couldn’t speak at all. It was around 4 a.m. on Thursday dawn that she finally opened her eyes and asked, ‘Where am I? Where are my slippers?’ That was the first thing she said,” she recounted.
Despite the pain and the struggle, she praised the staff of the 37 Military Hospital for their support.
“The nurses were very nice to us,” she said. “One nurse even came to attend to her when she complained of pain, but she was still hurting when we left.”
Reports indicate that the recruitment exercise attracted thousands of young people across the country, resulting in chaotic scenes at some centres. In both Accra and Kumasi, several applicants reportedly collapsed while pushing to enter overcrowded venues.
Meanwhile, the Ghana Armed Forces have clarified that the death toll from Wednesday’s stampede at the El-Wak Sports Stadium remains six.
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