A university council in Bolivia this Monday (9) ended with four students dead and 70 injured after someone detonated a tear gas canister at the scene, causing confusion, according to official sources.

“We confirmed four deaths and received information that there were 70 injured, five of whom were in intensive care,” said Roxana Choque, prosecutor for the Andean district of Potosi, in southeastern Bolivia.

Rector Pedro López, who said that hundreds of students gathered in the university gymnasium to elect their new administrators, added that the institute is “mourning”.

The local police commander, Colonel Bernardo Isnado, explained that the events were amid a heated debate in the gym of Tomás Frías University in the city of Potosi, that someone had fired “a gas bomb that caused a general stampede”.

Prosecutor Choque explained that there were many people with bruises and fractures “due to the stampede” and that “deaths were due to asphyxia”. According to initial reports, there were between 400 and 500 students on the site.

In a joint press conference with Colonel Isnado, the Dean said that the tear gas device was triggered due to the disagreements between the two groups, causing panic and despair among the students who tried to leave the venue closed.

Bolivian government minister Eduardo del Castillo said an investigation has already been launched, and the main version shows that “subjects released tear gas and chemicals during the student meeting”.

At a press conference in La Paz, the minister noted that the authorities managed to identify one of the students involved in the launch of the tear gas, but refrained from providing further details “to prevent him from escaping.”

The state hospital in the city, where 270 thousand people live, collapsed due to many injuries, and the desperate relatives of the students came to get information about the situation.

In the images circulating on social media, it was seen that dozens of people were outside the hospital waiting for medical information about the students in custody.

“Please be patient, the hospital has collapsed, no space, no space,” one doctor told family members.