Youngsters amongst 31 killed at church fair stampede in Nigeria

ABUJA, Nigeria -- A stampede Saturday at a church charity event in southern Nigeria left 31 people dead and 7 injured, police informed The Associated Press, a shocking improvement at a program that aimed to offer hope to the needy. One witness said the dead included a pregnant woman and many children.

The stampede on the event organized by the Kings Assembly Pentecostal church in Rivers state concerned individuals who came to the church’s annual “Shop for Free” charity program, in accordance with Grace Iringe-Koko, a police spokeswoman.

Such events are common in Nigeria, Africa’s largest economic system, where more than 80 million individuals reside in poverty, based on authorities 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 stated. One way or the other the locked gate was damaged open, making a stampede, she stated.

Godwin Tepikor from Nigeria’s National Emergency Management Agency stated first responders were able to evacuate the our bodies of these trampled to loss of life and convey them to the morgue. Security forces cordoned off the world.

Dozens of residents later thronged the scene, mourning the lifeless and providing any assistance they could to emergency staff. Doctors and emergency workers treated a few of the injured as they lay within the open discipline. Videos from the scene confirmed the clothes, shoes and different objects meant for the beneficiaries.

One witness who solely recognized himself as Daniel said "there have been so many children” among the useless. 5 of the useless youngsters had been from one mom, he instructed the AP, including that a pregnant girl additionally misplaced her life.

Some church members had been attacked and injured by relatives of the victims after the stampede, in keeping with witness Christopher Eze. The church declined to comment on the state of affairs.

The police spokeswoman mentioned the seven injured had been “responding to therapy."

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

Nigeria has seen related stampedes in the past.

Twenty-four folks died at an overcrowded church gathering in the southeastern state of Anambra in 2013, while a minimum of 16 folks had been killed in 2014 when a crowd got out of control during a screening for presidency jobs in the nation's capital, Abuja.

—

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