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Twelve people were killed and about 90 others injured in a stampede at a soccer stadium in El Salvador on Saturday, authorities said, turning an anticipated match into chaos as fans rushed to rescue those who were suffocating in the mass of bodies.
A video circulating on Twitter and published by local news sites showed dozens of people dressed in white rushing out of the stadium, some on the ground in a pile on top of each other.
It is unclear what caused the rush at the Cuscatlán Stadium in San Salvador, El Salvador, where the first league soccer teams, Alianza Fútbol Club and Club Deportivo FAS, are playing in the quarterfinals.
In a press conference on Saturday night, the director of the national police in El Salvador said that the authorities are investigating the possible reasons: The large number of people attending the game may have caused the Wi-Fi of the stadium to not work, which it may have. lead to problems with scanning QR codes on tickets. The ticket problem, he said, may have caused hundreds of people to get stuck at the south gate of the stadium, trying to get in.
The police director, Mauricio Arriaza Chicas, said some fans also forced their way into the stadium through the south gate, where those who bought cheaper tickets usually enter.
He added that he would also investigate ticket sales for the game. Local news organizations have questioned whether too many tickets were sold for the match.
Soccer matches around the world have for decades been the scene of deadly stadium disasters, sometimes started by crowd violence and often made worse by a callous police response that left spectators crushed as they tried to flee. In Malang, Indonesia, last October, at least 125 people were killed, many trampled, after police fired tear gas to disperse the crowd.
Nayib Bukele, the president of El Salvador, said that “everyone will be investigated: teams, managers, stadiums, ticket offices, leagues, federations, etc.”
“Whosoever is guilty,” said he, “shall not go unpunished.”
The unrest started around 20 minutes into the game, when the teams remained tied.
In the live stream of the match posted on YouTube, the game commentator said that he could see some kind of commotion in the stands, as some people had lost consciousness. Fans eventually entered the field, and the game was delayed, said a commentator on the livestream.
Around 11 pm Eastern, authorities said that they try to make it easier to get an ambulance in and out of the stadium.
El Salvador’s health minister, Francisco Alabi, said the country’s hospitals were providing medical care to those injured in the episode, adding that workers were doing “everything humanly possible” to save their lives. He said about 90 people were injured, most of them in stable condition.
Mr. Alabi showed the photo Twitter from the scene outside the stadium, with ambulances lined up in rows while fans stand next to the vehicles. Nine victims died at the stadium, and three died at the hospital, authorities said. Police did not immediately release his name.
A local radio station released a video of fans waving their shirts near people on the ground to make it cool. Other photos show people sweating and crying.
The country’s football federation said statement on Twitter that will “immediately request a report of what happened,” and all games will be canceled there.
The president of El Salvador’s national sports institute, Yamil Bukele, said in a statement that he had called a meeting on Sunday to see what happened.
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