Hundreds of One Direction fans crushes as world tour kicks off

The boyband, which includes Wolverhampton's Liam Payne, pleaded with the crowd to calm down as fans surged towards the stage during their show in Peru.

A total of 47 fans needed medical treatment causing Liam, along with Harry Styles, Niall Horan, Zayn Malik and Louis Tomlinson, to stop performing on Sunday.

The band, which is set to smash records with a tour that could rake in a billion dollars, at one point threatened to walk off stage.

Reports coming out of Peru suggested several people were still being treated for symptoms of asphyxia.

Following the incident, tents were used as emergency pop-up treatment centres and an additional evacuation plan was put in place by the fire service.

Fire chiefs told a local radio station the situation had been handled well and

Head of Peru's volunteer fire service, Mario Cassareto told a local radio station: 'We treated 47 children with the first stages of asphyxia. Everything is under control. We have nothing to be ashamed of, we've handled the situation well.'

'We put in place a second evacuation plan so that the younger fans were not affected.

'We're working with the police and the security companies , 911 and VIP. It's under control and we are still treating those with symptoms of asphyxia that we pulled from the back.'

Liam, originally from Bushbury, had tweeted a picture showing thousands of 1D fans outside his hotel in Lima, Peru, before the show.

Taken back by the level of support he wrote: 'I will never understand, and you will never understand what this does to somebody ...why? no one could deserve this.'

And after the playing in Lima, he added: 'Honestly you guys are gunna set me off again Lima that was an overwhelming experience something I'll remember forever...

'It's so crazy I feel like I haven't done enough to deserve that kind of appreciation gunna spend my day in a state of shock love you guys.'