Venezuela concert crush kills 11

Police say the stadium was filled to bursting point

At least 11 people have been killed in a stampede at a festival in northwestern Venezuela.

Officials say the crush happened when thousands of people rushed into the Plaza Monumental Bull Ring in the city of Valencia, about 160 kilometres (100 miles) west of the capital, Caracas.

Witnesses say crowds surged forward when police fired warning shots to control people trying to get into the stadium to see a show organised by one of the country's main television networks.

There was a riot; there were shots from the police to try to control things

Local journalist

About nine of the dead were children, according to the state governor, Enrique Salas Feo.

Sixty other people were injured.

About 30,000 spectators were already in the arena, which has a capacity for 27,000, when even more people tried to force their way in.

Trampled

There were conflicting reports about what sparked the disaster.

A local radio journalist said there was a riot and police fired to control the situation.

But one of the victims, a teenage girl, said: "We were just waiting normally to get in and the municipal police started to fire into the air... People weren't doing anything."

Another witness said he saw people climbing over a fence to get into the ring when police started firing.

Local civil defence official Rafael David Loaiza said many of the children were trampled underfoot.

"Apparently they put children in front and the adults started to shove and they didn't stop even when people fell down, " he told reporters.

Organisers went ahead with the show, which was broadcast live, hours after the tragedy.