A LIVERPOOL supporter who survived the crush at Hillsborough has described "having to concentrate on staying alive" on the terrace.

Statements from some of the survivors of the disaster at the 1989 FA Cup semi-final, in which 96 people died, were read to the jury at the trial of match commander David Duckenfield and former Sheffield Wednesday club secretary Graham Mackrell on Thursday.

In his account, supporter Colin Moneypenny said he entered the ground on April 15 1989 for the match between Liverpool and Nottingham Forest after an exit gate was opened.

He said he made his way down the tunnel, which he thought would allow him to get into a side pen of the terrace.

Mr Moneypenny found himself in a central pen and said: "From this point on I was presented with a situation where I had no longer come to see a football match, I was having to concentrate on staying alive."

Preston Crown Court heard at one point he became aware of a body underneath where he was standing but as the pressure eased he was able to make his way back through the tunnel.

He said: "On leaving the ground on to Leppings Lane I saw a group of policemen laughing and joking between themselves."

Mr Moneypenny said he told one officer: "You b*st*rd, there are people dying in there."

He added: "He was obviously totally oblivious to problems inside the ground."

Christine Agnew QC, prosecuting, also read a statement from off-duty Merseyside Police officer Colin Allen, who attended the ground as a fan and went into a central pen after entering through exit gate C.

He described the crush as "vice-like" and said: "At one stage it was almost impossible to even raise your arm."

Mr Allen said he blacked out at one stage in the crush but was eventually able to get into a side pen and on to the pitch, where he helped to treat fans.

He said police performance on the day was "pretty non-existent from start to finish", although a female police officer deserved credit for efforts to resuscitate a fan on the pitch.

The court heard a statement from former police inspector David Bullas, who was on duty in the West Stand, above the terrace.

He described seeing a "river of people" entering the central pens at about 3pm.

He said: "The scene reminded me of the kind of pictures seen on television on nature programmes when molten lava is shown running down a hillside from an active volcano."

Retired police inspector Peter Darling, who was in charge of officers based on the perimeter track, told the court he helped to bring people out of the pens after realising there was a crush.

Asked if any instructions were given to him, he said: "At that time no, the officers were still having problems with communications on the radio and really officers round there were just doing what we thought the best to do in that difficult situation."

He said the constables on the track were not given specific instructions to assess numbers of people in pens but had a responsibility to see what was happening on the terrace and take action if needed.

Duckenfield, 74, denies the gross negligence manslaughter of 95 Liverpool fans who died in the crush on the Leppings Lane terrace.

Under the law at the time, there can be no prosecution for the 96th victim, Tony Bland, as he died more than a year and a day after the disaster.

Twelve of those who died in the disaster were from Wirral and Ellesmere Port.

Mackrell, 69, denies breaching a condition of the ground's safety certificate and failing to discharge a duty under the Health and Safety Act.