20 Soccer Fans Killed as Tripoli Stadium Wall Falls

Part of a stadium collapsed during a soccer match fan brawl in the Libyan capital of Tripoli, killing at least 20 spectators and injuring several others, reports said today.

The Yugoslav state news agency Tanjug said a stadium wall collapsed Thursday during a soccer match between Libya and Malta in Tripoli’s main sports stadium.

The Belgrade daily Politika Ekspres said the incident began when several fans pulled out knives during a quarrel.

Seeking shelter nearby, spectators toppled an iron fence. At the same time, a massive 15-foot-high wall crashed down, the newspaper said.

“It is hard to believe that anyone under it could have remained alive,” Politika Ekspres said, quoting eyewitnesses.

The paper said many people were injured when fans stampeded toward the exits.

It said about 5,000 fans then began chasing those who had brandished weapons. One of them was caught, but police dragged him free from the enraged crowd, Politika Ekspres said.

The Libyan news agency JANA said a row of seats collapsed and that a “number of spectators were injured.” The stadium reportedly has a capacity of 70,000, but it was not immediately known how many people were at the game.

The Libyans were leading 1-0 in the exhibition game. The game was stopped and did not resume.

Tanjug said there had been no official announcement of the incident and that all roads to the stadium had been blocked off.