May 1964 disaster in Lima, Peru
The
Estadio Nacional disaster
occurred on 24 May 1964 at the
Estadio Nacional
(Stadium National) in
Lima
, Peru, during a match between football teams for
Peru
and
Argentina
.
[1]
An unpopular decision by the referee outraged the Peruvian fans, who
invaded the pitch
. Police retaliated by shooting
tear gas
into the crowd, causing a mass exodus. The deaths mainly occurred from people suffering from internal hemorrhaging or asphyxiation from the
crushing
against the steel shutters that led down to the street. The incident is considered the worst disaster in the history of
association football
.
Background
[
edit
]
On 24 May 1964,
Peru
hosted
Argentina
at the
Estadio Nacional
in
Lima
. The game, in the qualifying round for the
Tokyo Olympics
'
football tournament
, was considered as vital for Peru, then holding the second qualifying place in the
CONMEBOL
table, who would face a tough match against
Brazil
in their final game. The match attracted a crowd of 53,000 to the stadium.
Events
[
edit
]
With Argentina leading 1?0 and six minutes of normal time remaining, a would-be equalising goal by Peru was disallowed by Uruguayan referee Angel Eduardo Pazos. This decision infuriated the home fans and caused a
pitch invasion
.
Peruvian police
shot
tear gas
canisters into the northern grandstand to prevent further fans from invading the field of play. This caused panic and an attempt at a mass exodus to avoid the tear gas.
Rather than standard gates, the stadium had solid
corrugated steel
shutters at the bottom of tunnels that connected the street level, via several flights of steps, to the seating areas above. These shutters were closed as they normally were at every game. Panicked spectators moving down the enclosed stairways pressed those in the lead against the closed shutters, but this was not visible to the crowd pushing down the stairwells from behind. The shutters finally burst outward as a result of pressure from the
crush of bodies
inside. All of those that died were killed in the stairwells down to the street level, most from
internal haemorrhaging
or
asphyxia
. No one who stayed inside of the stadium died.
[2]
[3]
In the street, the crowd caused destruction to private property around the stadium.
[
citation needed
]
Aftermath
[
edit
]
The official death toll is 328, but this may be an underestimate since deaths by gunshot were not counted in the official estimates.
[1]
Even so, the death toll is still greater than the
Hillsborough disaster
, the
Bradford fire
, the
Heysel disaster
, the
1902 Ibrox disaster
, the
1971 Ibrox disaster
, and the
Burnden Park disaster
combined. After the incident, a decision was made to reduce the seating capacity of the stadium from 53,000 to 42,000 in 1964, although this was later increased to 47,000 for the
2004 Copa America
.
[3]
References
[
edit
]
12°04′02.2″S
77°02′01.4″W
/
12.067278°S 77.033722°W
/
-12.067278; -77.033722
External links
[
edit
]
Lima 1964: The world's worst stadium disaster (BBC)
|
---|
General
| |
---|
Stadiums
| |
---|
Statistics and results
| |
---|
Players
| |
---|
Goals
| |
---|
FIFA World Cup
| |
---|
Copa America
| |
---|
CONCACAF Gold Cup
| |
---|
Other tournaments
| |
---|
Culture
| |
---|
Rivalries
|
- Bolivia
- Chile
- Colombia
- Ecuador
|
---|
Other FPF teams
| |
---|
|
---|
|
19th c.
| |
---|
20th c.
| |
---|
2000s
| |
---|
2010s
| |
---|
2020s
| |
---|