May 30, 1999
Web posted at: 7:23 p.m. EDT (2323 GMT)

MINSK, Belarus (CNN) -- Dozens of people were killed in a stampede at an underground railway station in the Belarusian capital of Minsk, Russia's Interfax news agency reported Sunday.

Interfax reported that at least 50 people died and 300 people were injured when crowds attending a beer festival rushed into the underground passage of the Nyamiha station in central Minsk to escape a sudden rainstorm.

Police could not be reached for official casualty figures, but the dispatcher for a local ambulance service said he knew of at least 37 people killed and 43 injured in the crush on Saturday afternoon.

About 10,000 people were taking part in the beer festival, a traditional event.

A correspondent for Poland's Wyborcza newspaper, who was at the scene, said police had cordoned off the area an hour after the stampede and dozens of ambulances rushed to the station. He said he saw eight dead bodies which had been brought to a nearby hospital.

Reuters contributed to this report.