London: Prosecutors on Wednesday announced criminal charges against six people including ex-police chiefs over the 1989 Hillsborough soccer stadium crush in which 96 fans died, Britain's worst sporting disaster.

The charges related to the deaths and also to an alleged subsequent cover-up by police of their own catastrophic mistakes.

The victims, all Liverpool supporters, died in an overcrowded, fenced-in enclosure at the Hillsborough stadium in Sheffield, northern England, during an FA Cup semi-final between Liverpool and Nottingham Forest.

Police at first blamed the tragedy on drunken fans, an explanation that was always rejected by survivors, relatives of the victims and the wider Liverpool community. Families spent decades campaigning for justice for the 96.