FIFA began investigations on Monday into the death of four people and injuries to eight in a stadium crush after Togo's World Cup qualifier against Mali.

World soccer's governing body said, however, that reports that three people were trampled to death as they sought to buy tickets for Guinea's home game against Morocco in Conakry were unfounded.

In Lome, witnesses said the crush occurred when fans panicked at a power cut in the stadium shortly after the end of the African Zone Group One match, which Togo won 1-0. One Malian national was among the dead.

"Initial reports of spectator deaths at the Guinea-Morocco preliminary match proved to be unfounded," a FIFA statement said, referring to the Group Five match that ended 1-1.

"FIFA and Guinean Football Federation officials confirmed that the rumour was propagated after a number of spectators without tickets were injured following an attempt to illegally enter the stadium by climbing over a wall. However, there were no fatalities."

The statement quoted FIFA president Sepp Blatter as saying: "Such terrible incidents must serve to re-double our efforts to keep safety and security a top priority at all football matches."

It added that FIFA would "take strong action if necessary as the world governing body for football is determined to ensure that the required safety and security measures for hosting these matches are fully implemented for every game."

FIFA said it was also investigating reported incidents at a number of other qualifiers: pitch invasions by spectators in Botswana and Panama, missiles thrown onto the pitch in Bosnia, Malawi, Sudan and Honduras and racist chants in Macedonia.