At least 12 dead in Madagascar stadium stampede: PM

At least 12 people were killed Friday in a crowd stampede at a stadium in the Madagascar capital of Antananarivo, the prime minister of the Indian Ocean nation Christian Ntsay said.

"The provisional toll shows 12 dead and some 80 injured," Ntsay told reporters at a hospital in Antananarivo.

The stampede occurred at the entrance to the Barea stadium where a crowd of around 50,000 spectators had arrived to attend the opening ceremony of the Indian Ocean Island Games.

The cause of the tragedy was not immediately known.

Madagascar President Andry Rajoelina, who was present at the opening ceremony, called for a minute's silence.

"A tragic event occurred because there was pushing. There were injuries and deaths at the entrance," he said in a televised speech.

The Indian Ocean Island Games are a multi-disciplinary competition being held in Madagascar until September 3.

They have been staged every four years in different islands in the south-west Indian Ocean for around 40 years. The previous edition took place in Mauritius.

/MHK/