Abidjan (AFP) – Nineteen people were killed Sunday and 132 were injured in an avalanche in the HouphouГѓВ«t-Boigny stadium in Abidjan, in the football game that faced Ivory Coast in Malawi, in the qualifiers for the World-2010, upheld the Ivorian government.

Minister of Youth and Sports made the figures in the African country's public television and described as drama as experienced the sport. A medical source had earlier indicated to AFP that there were 19 deaths and hundreds of casualties.

The avalanche took place before the game, which began at 17h00 (local and GMT), said Interior Minister Desire Tagro.

The fans came in large numbers and those who were outside at that time were more numerous than those who were inside the stadium (…) There was a rush because the party was to begin and everyone wanted to come, said Tagro.

According to the medical source, the police reportedly used tear gas because they had groups of fans forced one of the entrances to the stadium, which triggered panic and caused the flood and the subsequent demolition of a wall.

We are investigating to establish the circumstances in which these events have developed, the interior minister, who appealed to people to remain calm and said that steps had been taken to address those who are wounded.

people with injuries and damage was transferred to the University Hospital of Treichville and Yopougon, two neighborhoods of Abidjan, as well as a military medical center.

The Federation of Ivorian Football (FIF) and the Ministries of Interior and Sports of the country called a crisis meeting to determine responsibility of the drama, told the AFP Albert Kakou Anzouan, chairman of the Competitions of the FIF .

The party of the first day of Group E in the African zone, resulted in a 5-0 win for the Ivorians, who begin as the leaders of the key.

The tragedy of HouphouГѓВ«t-Boigny, with capacity for about 35,000 people after its recent renovation, joins others who have experienced similar at football matches, many of them in Africa.

The latest highlights lived in September 2008 in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, where there were thirteen dead after a group of fans threw stones at the ground and police responded with tear gas; which caused an avalanche.

In June 2007 there were twelve deaths in Chililabombwe in Zambia, while mourning a stellar league Ghana between Hearts of Oaks and Kumasi, resulted 126 dead in May 2001 in Accra.

The biggest drama took place in 1964 in Lima, when by reason of a Peru-Argentina was a flood with 320 fatalities, most of them crushed and suffocated.

They are also remembered the tragedies occurred in Sheffield in 1989, 96 Liverpool fans died, or the Heysel stadium in Brussels, where 39 people lost their lives before the end of the 1985 European Cup between Liverpool and Juventus.