Philippine link HERE keeps crashing...CNN link HERE
The TV show is due to start at one, and right now they are broadcasting the prayers and announcements inside the stadium...where the crowd is still present...presumably to prevent a stampede on exiting...
CNN reports:
Merquieades Salazar cried over the body of his wife, who was among those crushed. Salazar, 45, said the couple was jobless and wanted to try their luck at winning a raffle with a jackpot equivalent to 20,000 pesos (U.S. $384).
"In the desire to win money, she is the one I lost," Merquieades sobbed as he stroke his dead wife's hair.
Authorities were collecting the dead and lining up the bodies on a street outside the stadium for identification as bags and shoes lay scattered outside the open-air stadium compound.
Police Superintendent Gerry Galvan said there were at least 50 dead on a street outside the stadium and the rest were taken to hospitals. Army soldiers loaded some of the bodies into a truck.
Radio DZBB reported that hospitals were overwhelmed with the scores of injured and were using parking lots to accommodate them.
Vice President Noli de Castro arrived at the scene and told police to clear the way for rescue workers and vehicles.
"We did not want this to happen. It's just that there were so many people wanting to watch 'Wowowee' because of the big prizes awaiting them," de Castro said.
The game show, organized by ABS-CBN TV network, is extremely popular in the Philippines because it offers big prizes, like cars and money.
People had lined up for two days to get tickets.
"There were so many people, but they did not want to open the gate and two of our companions died," a weeping woman told DZBB radio outside the University of Life Sports Stadium, known as ULTRA.
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