By DPA
Rio de Janeiro : At least eight people were killed in Brazil when a stand at a football stadium collapsed as fans were celebrating, minutes after the match ended.
Dozens of people were also injured in the accident late Sunday in Salvador, the capital of Bahia state in northwest Brazil, media reports said.
The fans were celebrating the home team’s promotion into the second division after a 0-0 draw with Vila Nova and were jumping up and down when the stand gave way in the upper tier of the Fonte Nova stadium. Some of the victims fell 40 metres.
The celebrations at the stadium with more than 60,000 spectators were immediately broken off after what was called the worst football tragedy in Bahia’s history.
Fonte Nova is one of Brazil’s most tradition-rich stadiums, but according to an engineering association, also its most dangerous.
Regional Sports Minister Raimundo Nonato, however, denied reports of structural problems. “People without tickets destroyed entry gates after the last whistle and forced their way into the stadium,” he said. “The police could do nothing, and, therefore, this tragedy occurred.”
The stadium is to be closed from Monday for an undetermined amount of time.