Children 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 lifeless and seven injured, police instructed The Related Press, a shocking growth at a program that aimed to supply hope to the needy. One witness said the dead included a pregnant woman and lots of kids.

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

Such events are widespread in Nigeria, Africa’s largest financial system, where greater than 80 million people live in poverty, in line 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 secure their place in line, Iringe-Koko said. Someway the locked gate was damaged open, creating a stampede, she stated.

Godwin Tepikor from Nigeria’s National Emergency Management Agency said first responders were in a position to evacuate the bodies of these trampled to death and produce them to the morgue. Safety forces cordoned off the area.

Dozens of residents later thronged the scene, mourning the dead and offering any help they might to emergency workers. Docs and emergency employees treated among the injured as they lay in the open field. Videos from the scene confirmed the clothing, footwear and different items meant for the beneficiaries.

One witness who solely recognized himself as Daniel stated "there have been so many children” among the many useless. Five of the lifeless kids had been from one mother, he advised the AP, adding that a pregnant woman also lost her life.

Some church members were attacked and injured by family members of the victims after the stampede, in accordance with witness Christopher Eze. The church declined to comment on the state of affairs.

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

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

Nigeria has seen related stampedes prior to now.

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

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