Children among 31 killed at church fair stampede in Nigeria

ABUJA, Nigeria -- A stampede Saturday at a church charity occasion in southern Nigeria left 31 individuals useless and 7 injured, police told The Related Press, a shocking development at a program that aimed to offer hope to the needy. One witness stated the dead included a pregnant woman and lots of kids.

The stampede on the event organized by the Kings Meeting Pentecostal church in Rivers state concerned individuals 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 greater than 80 million individuals stay in poverty, based on 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 stated. In some way the locked gate was damaged open, creating a stampede, she said.

Godwin Tepikor from Nigeria’s Nationwide Emergency Administration Agency mentioned first responders have been able to 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 help they may to emergency workers. Doctors and emergency staff treated among the injured as they lay in the open field. Movies from the scene confirmed the clothes, sneakers and different gadgets meant for the beneficiaries.

One witness who solely identified himself as Daniel mentioned "there have been so many youngsters” among the dead. Five of the dead youngsters had been from one mother, he told the AP, adding that a pregnant lady also misplaced 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 touch upon the scenario.

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

The “Store 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 a minimum of 16 individuals were killed in 2014 when a crowd acquired uncontrolled throughout a screening for presidency jobs in the nation's capital, Abuja.

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