Youngsters among 31 killed at church honest stampede in Nigeria

ABUJA, Nigeria -- A stampede Saturday at a church charity occasion in southern Nigeria left 31 people useless and 7 injured, police advised The Associated Press, a stunning development at a program that aimed to supply hope to the needy. One witness said the lifeless included a pregnant woman and plenty of children.

The stampede at the event organized by the Kings Meeting Pentecostal church in Rivers state involved individuals who got here to the church’s annual “Shop for Free” charity program, based on Grace Iringe-Koko, a police spokeswoman.

Such occasions are widespread in Nigeria, Africa’s largest economy, where more than 80 million folks stay in poverty, in response to government statistics.

Saturday’s charity program was supposed to start at 9 a.m. but dozens arrived as early as 5 a.m. to safe their place in line, Iringe-Koko mentioned. Someway the locked gate was broken open, creating a stampede, she mentioned.

Godwin Tepikor from Nigeria’s National Emergency Management Company said first responders have been capable of evacuate the our bodies of those trampled to demise and bring them to the morgue. Safety forces cordoned off the area.

Dozens of residents later thronged the scene, mourning the dead and providing any assistance they might to emergency staff. Doctors and emergency workers treated a number of the injured as they lay within the open subject. Videos from the scene confirmed the clothes, shoes and other gadgets meant for the beneficiaries.

One witness who solely recognized himself as Daniel mentioned "there were so many youngsters” among the many dead. Five of the useless youngsters have been from one mom, he informed the AP, adding that a pregnant woman additionally misplaced her life.

Some church members were attacked and injured by family of the victims after the stampede, in line with witness Christopher Eze. The church declined to touch upon the situation.

The police spokeswoman stated the seven injured had been “responding to treatment."

The “Shop for Free” occasion was suspended whereas authorities investigated how the stampede occurred.

Nigeria has seen comparable stampedes previously.

Twenty-four individuals died at an overcrowded church gathering within the southeastern state of Anambra in 2013, while a minimum of 16 individuals have been killed in 2014 when a crowd received out of control throughout a screening for government jobs within the nation's capital, Abuja.

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Associated Press journalist Hilary Uguru in Warri, Nigeria, contributed.