Sunshine Stars still trapped in Malien crossfire

Posted by admin Headlines, Soccer, Sports Thursday, May 3rd, 2012

Akombo

TRAPPED players and officials of Sunshine Stars FC of Akure are still unsure of when they will depart Bamako, Mali, as fighting between rebels and government forces continued yesterday morning.

According to one of the accompanying journalists, Tunde Shamsudeen, who spoke with Tribunesports on phone from Bamako yesterday morning, the situation at the Bamako airport was tense as rebels paraded the premises; a development that sparked off renewed hostilities.

“It’s just early morning here and the situation is still the same. We still heard gun shots but a bit far from us, unlike the previous day. We are still indoors in our hotel and we are being taken care of by the Mali FA.

”We are monitoring the events and as soon as the airport is open, we will depart for Nigeria, but we are still waiting for the signal from our hosts to give us some good news.” said Shamcudeen, who added that the extra costs incurred by their stay in the hotel are being shouldered by the Mali FA.

Striker Ukeyima Akombo described the situation as scary, adding that the players were scared by the sound of heavy machine gun fire on Tuesday.

“It has not been a funny situation. It has been scary with heavy sound of guns, but today (Wednesday) is less explosive because the sound of the shooting is a bit far,” said the giant striker

“I have never been in a situation like this before. We are just staying at one place. We kill off the tension by watching films. Our hotel is not being specially guarded, but the soldiers are always on the streets, where the hotel is.

”We are tired of the whole situation and want to get out of here as soon as possible.’’

-Tribunewp_posts