10 People Including Children Die In Stampede In Nigeria At a Christmas Charity Event
By Juliet Vincent
Ten people, including four children, were killed in a stampede in Abuja, Nigeria’s capital city as a large crowd gathered to collect food and clothing items distributed by a local church at an annual Christmas event, the police said Saturday.
It is the second such stampede in a week in Africa’s most populous country as local organizations, churches and individuals are increasingly organizing charity events ahead of Christmas amid the country’s worst cost-of-living crisis in a generation.
Saturday’s stampede occurred in the early hours at the Holy Trinity Catholic Church in Maitama, an upmarket part of Abuja, police spokesman Josephine Adeh said in a statement, adding that more than 1,000 people have been evacuated from the church.
There had been a crowd surge at one of the church gates as dozens tried to enter the church premises at around 4 a.m., hours before the gift items were to be shared, witnesses said, pointing out that some had been waiting since the previous night.
“The way they were rushing to enter, some people were falling and some of them were old,” Loveth Inyang, a witness. Inyang said he managed to rescue one baby as his mother struggled in the surge. (AP)
