About 30,000 people were waiting to get inside the stadium for the programme Wowoweewhen the mayhem erupted, said Vicente Eusebio, the mayor of Pasig, the Manila suburb where the stampede occurred.

The mayor said the melee erupted as the crowd pushed and surged toward the gates, thinking they were open, pinning and trampling those in front. One survivor said some people in the crowd became rowdy when they could not enter.

"The gates were being partially opened then shut, " said Myrna Britania, 42, who spoke at a hospital where the injured were being treated.

"The raffle tickets can be obtained at the gate so everyone was in a hurry. There was pushing and people in front of the gate were crushed."

Eusebio and police denied reports that the stampede was caused by a bomb scare.

Authorities collected the dead and lined up the bodies on the side of a street outside the stadium for identification as bags and shoes lay scattered outside the hall.

Police superintendent Gerry Galvan said at least 50 people died at the stadium and the rest at hospitals where they were taken.

Hospitals were overwhelmed with the scores of injured and were using parking lots to accommodate them.

The Rizal Medical Centre was treating 200 injured in one hospital alone, according to officials.