At least 13 people died in a crush at a stadium in Madagascar on Friday as sports fans gathered for the opening ceremony of the Indian Ocean Island Games, local media reported.
The reports said that Madagascar Prime Minister Christian Ntsay announced the deaths.
Ntsay said that about 80 people had been injured, 11 of them critically.
Madagascar President Andry Rajoelina was at the ceremony at the Kianja Barea Mahamasina Stadium in the capital, Antananarivo, and asked the crowd to observe a few moments of silence for the dead.
“A tragic event occurred because there was pushing. There were injuries and deaths at the entrance,” Rajoelina said in a televised speech.
Seven children were among those who were killed.
“So far, 13 people have been killed and 107 injured,” Hanitra Razafimanantsoa, a member of parliament, told a local radio station.
The Red Cross, which was on the scene, said that “we don’t yet have the final list. Seven minors died.”
The stampede occurred at the entrance to the stadium, where about 50,000 people had arrived to attend the opening ceremony of the Indian Ocean Island Games.
The cause of the tragedy was not immediately known, but the Red Cross said that the toll could climb.
“There were a lot of people at the entrance, which triggered a stampede,” said Antsa Mirado, a communications manager with the Red Cross.
TV images broadcast images of dazed and shocked people trying to locate their shoes piled among objects lost in the deadly crush.
Other images from inside the stadium, shared on social media, showed the stands packed with people.
The Indian Ocean Island Games are a multi-disciplinary competition being held in Madagascar until Sept. 3. They have been staged every four years in different islands in the southwest Indian Ocean for about 40 years. The previous edition took place in Mauritius.
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