MANILA, Feb. 4 (Xinhuanet) -- Sixty-one people, mostly elderly women, were trampled to death and many others injured on Saturday morning when a panic stampede broke out at a football stadium in Pasig City, east of Metro Manila, police said.

A video grab shows rescue workers evacuating the wounded after a stampede in Manila Feb. 4. (Reuters)

    Police and local government officials gave varying figures on the death toll. Metro Manila police intelligence chief Rojas Jr. said 61 were killed while the local mayor Vicente Eusebio saying 66 including 63 women perished in the incident.

    Many of the victims came from the provinces outside Manila, according to Eusebio.

    Police said that at least 3,000 spectators, lining up at the stadium's entrance heard an unidentified man shouting "bomb," before they came into chaos. They were waiting to see the anniversary celebration of a local TV's popular game show, which would be held at noon.

Belongings piled up after a stampede in front of a stadium in Manila. (AFP)

    The show was canceled due to the incident.

    Ambulances and trucks from the military as well as the Philippine Red Cross rushed in and out to transfer the victims to hospitals nearby, as Philippine vice president De Castro appeared at the scene and made cell¡¡phone calls to take the command.

    The dead bodies of the victims and the injured ones were evacuated from the chaotic scene and police tried hard to maintain¡¡order while there were still more than 2,000 people remaining in and around the stadium.

    Confined in police's traffic control, the standing crowd could not find way out but kept mostly calm, waiting for authority's order.

    Metro Manila police chief Vidal Querrol said he deployed additional policemen to help control situation in the area. Enditem