Eight people were killed after a section of the stands at a soccer stadium in northeastern Brazil collapsed as cheering fans jumped up and down at the end of a game, police said.

At least nine people fell through a section of the highest bleachers at the Fonte Nova stadium in the coastal city of Salvador on Sunday, according to an official with the city's federal police.

Photos taken at the site showed people dead on the ground and what appeared to be a hole in the bleachers.

Police said it wasn't clear what caused the collapse, but Brazilian media reports said the 56-year-old stadium recently came under heavy criticism for the precarious condition of its stands.

The accident happened as the game ended, when fans of the Bahia soccer team celebrated, invading the pitch when their team managed a goalless draw with Vila Nova, securing Bahia a place in the nation's second division.

Fans were jumping up and down in celebration when a hole measuring several meters (yards) wide opened in the concrete floor of the stand. The victims fell several stories to the ground.

Police said they couldn't immediately confirm how many people had been injured, but Globo TV reported that dozens were hurt.

About 60,000 people were at the stadium for the game, and many didn't realize that the section of bleachers had given way as they invaded the pitch in celebration.

The stadium was built in 1951, according to the Web site of Salvador's A Tarde newspaper.

A survey of soccer stadiums released last month by Brazil's Sinaeco association of architects and engineers said the Fonte Nova's stands were "in ruins," A Tarde reported.

The newspaper said Fonte Nova was evaluated as part of a study of Brazilian soccer venues because Brazil will host the 2014 World Cup. Salvador would almost certainly get some of the games.

Brazil, which has won a record five World Cups, was last month awarded the right to host the 2014 tournament by FIFA, soccer's governing body.

Latin America's largest country hosted the competition once before in 1950.

The state governor of Bahia state, Jacques Wagner, ordered the Fonte Nova stadium closed while authorities investigated the cause of the accident.