The family of 20-year-old Benedita Yayra Kale is struggling to come to terms with the events that unfolded during the Ghana Armed Forces recruitment exercise at the El-Wak Sports Stadium. Benedita, who had been determined to serve in the military, set out before dawn on November 12, 2025, hoping to take a step closer to that ambition. By the end of the morning, she had become one of six young women who did not survive the overcrowded and chaotic scene.
Benedita left home with her older brother, Gabriel, shortly after 3:00 a.m. They had been instructed to report early for a stage of the enlistment process, and the siblings expected a long day ahead. What they encountered instead was a mass of applicants who had already filled the venue long before sunrise. The congestion kept intensifying as more people pushed into the limited space.
Her father, Reverend Philip Kale, followed the situation from home, receiving updates as the pressure at the stadium worsened. Within a short time, the atmosphere shifted from merely crowded to dangerously overwhelming. Gabriel later informed the family that Benedita had collapsed in the midst of the crush.
Rev Kale rushed to the 37 Military Hospital, where his daughter had been taken. Medical workers attempted to revive her, but the conditions at the stadium had already taken a heavy toll. Families of other victims waited anxiously outside the emergency area as staff worked through a growing number of casualties. Eventually, relatives were guided in to identify those who had passed away. Benedita was among them, her body now kept at the hospital morgue while the family awaits further direction.
Gabriel, who had been with her throughout, indicated afterward that she had not been stepped on, suggesting that the cause might have been suffocation or collapse due to the sheer density of people around her.
Authorities later confirmed that six young women died during the recruitment stampede in Accra. The government has since announced that it will assist with the funeral arrangements for the deceased. This assurance was communicated during a visit by the Minister for Gender, Children and Social Protection, Dr. Agnes Naa Momo Lartey, to one of the mourning families in the Central Region on November 14, 2025. The President also visited the 37 Military Hospital to check on those injured in the incident.
