At least 47 people were killed and scores were injured today when soccer fans tried to force their way into Johannesburg's Ellis Park stadium midway through a key national league match, journalists at the match reported.
It was believed to be the worst accident in South African sports history.
Sports commentators on the pitch initially reported 24 people killed in a stampede 33 minutes into a premiership game between top teams Kaizer Chiefs and league-leader Orlando Pirates.
But the South African Broadcasting Corporation said later in a live broadcast that the toll had increased to at least 47 with an unknown number hurt.
The crowd stood largely silent as emergency service personnel used advertising boards as stretchers to carry dead and wounded onto the floodlit pitch.