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 dead and seven injured, police told The Associated Press, a stunning growth at a program that aimed to offer hope to the needy. One witness said the useless included a pregnant woman and many youngsters.

The stampede at the occasion organized by the Kings Meeting Pentecostal church in Rivers state involved people who came 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 economic system, where more than 80 million individuals dwell in poverty, in keeping with government statistics.

Saturday’s charity program was supposed to start at 9 a.m. however dozens arrived as early as 5 a.m. to safe their place in line, Iringe-Koko said. By some means the locked gate was broken open, making a stampede, she said.

Godwin Tepikor from Nigeria’s Nationwide Emergency Management Agency mentioned first responders have been in a position to evacuate the bodies of these trampled to dying 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 workers. Doctors and emergency employees handled a few of the injured as they lay within the open field. Movies from the scene confirmed the clothes, sneakers and different gadgets meant for the beneficiaries.

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

Some church members have been attacked and injured by relatives of the victims after the stampede, according to witness Christopher Eze. The church declined to touch upon the scenario.

The police spokeswoman stated 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 previously.

Twenty-four people died at an overcrowded church gathering within the southeastern state of Anambra in 2013, whereas at the very least 16 folks were killed in 2014 when a crowd acquired uncontrolled during a screening for presidency jobs in the nation's capital, Abuja.

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