Philippine Red Cross chief Richard Gordon said authorities had revised the death toll down to 73 from 88 after finding that some of the fatalities had been counted twice.

Most of the 392 people injured were not in serious condition, and many had been treated and released, Gordon added.

Thousands of people stampeded into the Ultra stadium in Manila at dawn to secure limited seats hours ahead of the live broadcast of a popular television variety show called "Wowowee" on broadcast giant ABS-CBN.

The show offered a top prize of one million pesos (19,250 dollars).

Most of the dead were elderly women, crushed against a closed steel gate at the bottom of a slope or trampled underfoot. One child was killed, hospital officials said.

Some witnesses said chaos erupted when someone shouted "bomb" but most survivors blamed the crowd surging for the tickets.

"My mother came here hoping to win a prize," said one man in his 20s, holding her dead hand and sobbing.

More than 200 injured people were taken to one government hospital. Some survivors went to private hospitals and their number was not immediately known.

Police said as many as 25,000 people were lining up outside the Ultra stadium when guards started to hand out ticketsat dawn for the first anniversary celebration of the game show "Wowowee."

"The slope was so steep that when one person stumbled, they fell like dominoes," said Manila's police chief, Vidal Querol.

An army truck took the bodies to a funeral parlour after they had been lined up on the street, their faces covered with towels, sheets and newspapers. Hundreds of shoes and flip-flops were scattered across a narrow driveway.

President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo visited the injured in hospital and was due to survey the scene of the stampede.

The Philippines is no stranger to large-scale disasters, most often involving typhoons, volcanoes, earthquakes or ferries, as well as deadly attacks by Muslim and communist rebels.