A 14-year-old has been announced dead following the France and Morocco semifinal match at the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar.
The boy was reportedly run over by an erratic driver in the French city of Montpellier late Wednesday amid violent clashes between supporters of the two teams.
The driver was deemed to have panicked after his car was surrounded by rioting fans; he accelerated into two teenagers and eventually knocked one down.
Reports from the local authorities confirmed that the teenager went into cardiac arrest after the accident and died shortly after arriving at the hospital.
However, the vehicle was found abandoned near the scene of the incident, and local police have begun an investigation.
France has a large Moroccan population of about 1.5 million people, and tensions were expectedly high due to the semi-final clash between the two countries which ended in a 2-0 win for Les Bleus.
Social media videos showed a large number of fans roaming the street with flares and causing mayhem, resulting in about 10,000 police being deployed across the country and 167 arrests being reported nationwide.
In a rematch of the Group F opening fixture, Morocco will lock horns with Croatia on Saturday at the Khalifa International Stadium in the third-place match.
#FRAMAR d’un côté les supporters marocains de l’autre les supporters français. Tirs de mortiers à plein régime pic.twitter.com/H3HI4xJFP5
— Midi Libre Montpellier (@MLMontpellier) December 14, 2022
