19 dead in Ivory Coast football crush

A wall collapsed in an Abidjan stadium on Sunday sparking crowd panic that left at least 19 dead during a World Cup football match between Ivory Coast and Malawi, a medical source said.

First reports indicated part of a wall fell over in the stadium, prompting a crush of fans, the medical source said, adding that police may have fired tear gas and increased the panic.

Some 50,000 fans were packed in the Houphouet-Boigny Stadium in Ivory Coast’s biggest city for the World Cup qualifying match which the hosts won 5-0.