At least one person was killed and 47 injured at an unspecified ‘incident’ at a fan rally for the Peruvian football club Alianza Lima on Friday.
The incident took place at the Alejandro Villanueva Stadium, in the district of La Victoria in the Peruvian capital of Lima, ahead of the derby between Alianza Lima and Universitario, reported local media outlets.
"There has been an unfortunate incident at the stadium in which 47 people have been injured...and sadly there is one fatality," Health Minister Juan Carlos Velasco was quoted as saying by news agency AFP. Local media reports suggested that the 'incident' was a stampede.
Videos shared on social media showed a person being taken into an ambulances as crowds walked past.
The incident was initially attributed to the collapse of a part of a stadium wall, but Alianza Lima denied that any part of the venue had fallen.
"It should be noted that, according to the preliminary information available, the incident that occurred is not related to the collapse of walls or structural failures of the sports venue," said a statement by the club.
"From the very first moment, safety and emergency response protocols were immediately activated, providing timely assistance to those affected and their families," Alianza Lima added.
The club further said that it was cooperating fully with authorities to get to the bottom of what caused the incident.
Lima Fire Chief Marcos Pajuelo also backed Alianza's stance — “the structure of the southern stands appeared to be in good condition. There are no collapsed walls or sections fallen into the pit,” he was quoted as saying by news agency AFP.
Despite the tragedy, the match between Alianza Lima and Club Universitario de Deportes is currently set to proceed as planned on Saturday night, the Peruvian football league said in a statement.
A grim flashback
Friday's incident is the first major football-related stampede to hit the South American nation in over half a century.
The last such incident that shook the nation took place on 24 May 1964, during an Olympic qualifying match between Peru and Argentina at the Estadio Nacional in Lima.
The riot started six minutes before full time, when the Uruguayan referee disallowed an equalizing goal by Peru, prompting the 40,000-strong home support to storm the pitch.
Following the pitch invasion, the match was abandoned, and police retaliated firing tear gas. Hundreds of spectators were crushed and trampled as the panic-stricken crowd rushed towards the stadium exits.
Such was the chaos at the time of the incident that authorities failed to put an exact number of the dead. When the dust settled, the death toll stood at 328, with reports pointing to an additional 500 non-fatal injuries.
