Youngsters among 31 killed at church fair stampede in Nigeria

ABUJA, Nigeria -- A stampede Saturday at a church charity event in southern Nigeria left 31 people useless and seven injured, police instructed The Related Press, a shocking development at a program that aimed to supply hope to the needy. One witness stated the lifeless included a pregnant girl and plenty of children.

The stampede on the event organized by the Kings Meeting Pentecostal church in Rivers state concerned people who came to the church’s annual “Store for Free” charity program, according to Grace Iringe-Koko, a police spokeswoman.

Such occasions are common in Nigeria, Africa’s largest financial system, the place more than 80 million individuals reside 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. One way or the other the locked gate was broken open, making a stampede, she mentioned.

Godwin Tepikor from Nigeria’s National Emergency Administration Agency stated first responders were able to evacuate the bodies of these trampled to dying and bring them to the morgue. Safety forces cordoned off the world.

Dozens of residents later thronged the scene, mourning the dead and providing any help they could to emergency workers. Medical doctors and emergency staff handled a few of the injured as they lay in the open field. Movies from the scene confirmed the clothes, shoes and different objects meant for the beneficiaries.

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

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

The police spokeswoman said the seven injured have been “responding to remedy."

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

Nigeria has seen comparable stampedes previously.

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

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