At least nine people have died in a stampede at a soccer stadium in El Salvador on Saturday, the authorities said, in a chaotic scene that left other fans injured and at least two hospitalized in critical condition.
Videos circulating on Twitter and published by local news sites showed dozens of people clad in white appearing to rush toward an exit at the stadium, with some lying on the ground as more pile on top.
It was not immediately clear what prompted the rush at Cuscatlán Stadium in San Salvador, El Salvador, where the first-league soccer teams, Alianza and FAS, were playing the second leg of a quarterfinal.
On a livestream of the match that was posted on YouTube, game commentators said they could see some type of commotion going on in the stands, noting that some people appeared to be passed out. Fans eventually stepped onto the field, and the game was halted, the commentators said in the livestream.
Around 11 p.m. Eastern, the authorities said that they were trying to make it easier to get ambulances in and out of the stadium.
The health minister of El Salvador, Francisco Alabi, said in a statement that the country’s hospitals were providing medical care to several people injured in the episode, adding that workers were doing “everything humanly possible” to save their lives.
Mr. Alabi shared photos on Twitter of the scene outside the stadium, with ambulances lined up in rows as fans stand beside the vehicles.
The country’s soccer federation said in a statement on Twitter that it would “immediately request a report on what happened.”
A local radio station published video of fans waving their shirts near people on the ground in an effort to cool them off.
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