Cameroon's Marc-Vivien Foe: A friend of football who died playing

Marc-Vivien Foe, was a Cameroonian international and professional footballer who gained global fame following his death during an international competitive fixture in the FIFA Confederations Cup years ago.
He died on 26 June 2003, when the Indomitable Lions of Cameroon took on Columbia in the semi-final clash of the competition. He had played in victories against Brazil and Turkey but was rested for the game against the United States ahead of the Colombia fixture.
We present you some key facts about Marc-Vivien Foé – undoubtedly a friend of the game and one who the game remembers long after his passing.

Marc-Vivien Foé – A Friend of the Game

1. Marc-Vivien Foé (1 May 1975 – 26 June 2003) was a born in Yaounde
2. He played as a midfielder for the Indomitable Lions and also at club level
3. He started out with capital based side, Canon Yaounde, he won the Cameroon Cup in 1993.
4. He played for Lens between 1994 – 1999 making 85 appearances and scoring 11 times, at Lens he won the 1998 French league title.
5. He spent a season at West Ham United £4.2 million in January 1999 (1999-2000) with one goal from 48 appearances
6. He returned to France to join Lyon on £6 million transfer between 2000-2003, 43 appearances and three goals.
7. In 2001 he won the Coupe de la Ligue in 2001, and the league title with Lyon.
8. His international debut was against Mexico in September 1993.
9. He was part of the Cameroon squad for the 1994 World Cup, starting all three of their matches.
10. Due to a broken leg at Cameroon’s pre-World Cup training camp, he missed the 1998 World Cup.
11. He made squad for Cameroon in the 2002 World Cup. As in 1994, he played in all of Cameroon’s matches.
12. In the 72nd minute of the match against Colombia, Foé collapsed in the centre circle. After failed on-field resuscitation, he was stretchered off the field, where he received mouth-to-mouth resuscitation and oxygen. Medics spent 45 minutes attempting to restart his heart, and although he was still alive upon arrival at the stadium’s medical centre he died shortly afterwards.
An autopsy concluded that Foé‘s death was heart-related as it discovered evidence of hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, a condition known to increase the risk of sudden death during physical exercise.
On the occasion of his fourteenth year after death, a series of tweets from the football fraternity has been celebrating the memory of the Cameroonian number 17 man at the time slumped and died at the State de Gerland in Lyon, France.

Credit: Africa News

Over 200 migrants rescued by Spain

More than 200 migrants were rescued by the Spanish coastguards on Saturday. They attempted crossing the Mediteranean from north Africa to Spain.
Most of them from sub Saharan Africa and the Maghreb, were rescued from from five vessels in the Strait of Gibraltar and the Alboran Sea, which separate Spain from Morocco.
The spokesman said, dozens were rescued in south of Gibraltar from three boats. According to the International Organization for Migration (IOM), 3,314 people reached Spain by sea between 1 January and 30 April .
On Thursday more than 400 migrants were reported rescued by the Spanish sea rescue service.
At least 2,018 people have died or disappeared in the Mediterranean since the beginning of the year, according to IOM’s latest report .
Credit: Africa News

Burn victims overwhelm Pakistani hospitals after tanker fire kills 146

Pakistani hospitals on Monday struggled to treat scores of severely burned victims of a fuel tanker explosion that killed at least 146 people, as Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif flew back from an overseas trip to visit the injured.
More than 118 people were injured in the explosion in the eastern province of Punjab, which came as people gathered to collect leaking fuel after the tanker overturned on Sunday, government officials and rescue workers said.
The disaster was one of several deadly events to mar the run-up to Monday's Eid al-Fitr holiday marking the end of the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan. At least 65 people were killed in bombings in two cities on Friday claimed by Islamist militants including the Pakistani Taliban and Lashkar-e-Jhangvi.
A burst tyre apparently caused the speeding fuel tanker to overturn on a sharp bend on a highway on the outskirts of the city of Bahawalpur, provincial spokesman Malik Muhammed Ahmed Khan said.
It was not clear what triggered the fireball but on Sunday, a spokesman for rescue services said someone was believed to have lit a cigarette.
"Rehabilitation and treatment of the victims is our top priority," Khan said.
Hospitals are also arranging DNA testing to identify the many bodies that were charred beyond recognition. At least 20 children are among the dead.
Many of the burn victims have been moved the larger cities of Karachi and Lahore. Governments hospital are often-underequipped and the ones in Bahawalpur and nearby Multan were set up only to handle small numbers, Khan said.
The oil tanker driver, who survived, has been detained to assist in an investigation, but early reports do not indicate human error, Khan said.
He said a separate investigation was underway to see why police did not disperse the crowds of people who gathered to collect fuel.
"Police did try but we are looking into what went wrong," he said.
Prime Minister Sharif visited the injured in Bahawalpur's Victoria Hospital on Sunday after flying home from a trip to London, his office said.
Television footage showed the prime minister standing by the bedsides of victims.
Sharif had been in London to attend his grandson's graduation ceremony, his daughter Maryam said in a tweet.
(Writing by Kay Johnson; Editing by Robert Birsel)