PHILIPPINES: Seventy-nine people killed in a stampede at a stadium in Manila on Saturday as they scrambled to get tickets for a popular television game show

Record ID: 626326

  • Title: PHILIPPINES: Seventy-nine people killed in a stampede at a stadium in Manila on Saturday as they scrambled to get tickets for a popular television game show
  • Date: 4th February 2006
  • Summary: (SOUNDBITE) (Tagalog) NELDRID CATUBIG, SAYING: "It's frightening. It's the first time in my life that I have witnessed a stampede. I didn't expect this tragedy. We were hoping for the prizes."
  • Embargoed: 19th February 2006 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Philippines
  • Country: Philippines
  • Topics: Disasters / Accidents / Natural catastrophes
  • Reuters ID: LVA25T0DJA8UNVPH4EBL2D30GKZ5
  • Story Text: Seventy-nine people were killed in a stampede at a stadium in Manila on Saturday (February 4, 2006) as they scrambled to get tickets for a popular Philippine television game show, the government and witnesses said.
    Most of the dead were elderly women, crushed against a closed steel gate at the bottom of a slope or trampled underfoot. One child was killed, hospital officials said.
    Some witnesses said chaos erupted when someone shouted "bomb" but most survivors blamed the crowd surging for the tickets.
    "My mother came here hoping to win a prize. She didn't expect this to happen," said one man in his 20s, holding her dead hand and sobbing.
    Police said as many as 25,000 people were lining up outside the Ultra stadium when guards started to hand out tickets at dawn for the first anniversary celebration of the game show "Wowowee".
    "This is what happened. I was with someone and they were telling me that there was pushing and shoving. I felt the shoving. I didn't expect my friend to die in a stampede because my friend was the first to tell me there was pushing and shoving," said stampede survivor, Zenaida Campanero.
    An army truck took the bodies to a funeral parlour after they had been lined up on the street, their faces covered with towels, sheets and newspapers. Hundreds of shoes and flip-flops were scattered across a narrow driveway.
    More than 200 injured people were taken to one government hospital. Some survivors went to private hospitals and their number was not immediately known.
    Injured survivor Neldrid Catubig told Reuters he narrowly escaped being trampled in the confusion but two mothers he knew were not so lucky.
    "It's frightening. It's the first time in my life that I have witnessed a stampede. I didn't expect this tragedy. We were hoping for the prizes," he said, wiping tears from his face.
    Thousands of friends and relatives crowded outside the Rizal Medical Centre waiting to hear news of their missing loved ones.
    Meanwhile, medical and rescue staff continued to evacuated bodies from the scene of the stampede in central Manila and take injured people to nearby medical facilities.
    Philippine senator and head of the national Red Cross, Richard Gordon, said that one of the major problems was identifying the dead and injured because many people had lost the identification or were not carrying any.
    "In the hospitals now, we are tracing the families of those who were killed. Those who have no name, we are tracing them so we can help them, including those that were injured and then we will provide relief if necessary," he said.
    President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo visited the injured in hospital but made no public comment about the tragedy.
    The Philippines is no stranger to large-scale disasters, most often involving typhoons, volcanoes, earthquakes or ferries, as well as deadly attacks by Muslim and communist rebels.
    Stampedes are relatively rare, although a crush at a crowded religious procession in the capital last month killed one man and injured 20.
    Some tickets for the "Wowowee" show were given away this week but many fans camped out for days to get tickets at the gate.
    Even after the stampede, thousands of people refused to leave the area because they wanted a chance at the usual jackpot of 1 million pesos ($19,230) and a special prize for the anniversary of a house and plot of land.
    Ambulances had trouble reaching the scene because of the large crowd.
    The ABS-CBN network cancelled the event and appealed to those inside and outside the stadium to go home.
    ABS-CBN said it would pay for the funeral and hospital expenses of victims and survivors.
    "Wowowee", on six days a week at midday, is one of the most-watched shows in the Philippines and by communities of Filipinos living abroad.
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