The incident happened in the southern port city of Calabar on Thursday during a quarter-final between Manchester United and Anderlecht being shown on satellite television, the police said.

"We received a report of the incident around 10:00 pm and on getting there were able to recover the bodies of seven people who had been electrocuted when a high tension cable fell on them," Cross River state police spokeswoman Irene Ugbo told AFP.

"Eleven other fans who were injured were rushed to the hospital, with one in a critical condition," she said.

Ugbo ruled out any foul play in the tragedy.