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 folks useless and seven injured, police informed The Associated Press, a shocking development at a program that aimed to offer hope to the needy. One witness mentioned the dead included a pregnant girl and plenty of kids.

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

Such occasions are frequent in Nigeria, Africa’s largest financial system, where greater than 80 million folks reside in poverty, based on authorities 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 mentioned. In some way the locked gate was broken open, making a stampede, she mentioned.

Godwin Tepikor from Nigeria’s National Emergency Administration Agency said first responders had been capable of evacuate the bodies of those trampled to death and produce them to the morgue. Security forces cordoned off the realm.

Dozens of residents later thronged the scene, mourning the dead and offering any assistance they could to emergency employees. Docs and emergency staff handled a few of the injured as they lay in the open field. Videos from the scene showed the clothes, shoes and other items meant for the beneficiaries.

One witness who solely identified himself as Daniel said "there were so many children” among the many useless. 5 of the dead youngsters were from one mother, he informed the AP, adding that a pregnant woman also lost her life.

Some church members have been attacked and injured by family members of the victims after the stampede, in response to witness Christopher Eze. The church declined to comment on the scenario.

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

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

Nigeria has seen related stampedes prior to now.

Twenty-four people died at an overcrowded church gathering within the southeastern state of Anambra in 2013, while no less than 16 folks had been killed in 2014 when a crowd got uncontrolled throughout a screening for government jobs within the nation's capital, Abuja.

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