Youngsters among 31 killed at church fair stampede in Nigeria

ABUJA, Nigeria -- A stampede Saturday at a church charity occasion in southern Nigeria left 31 folks dead and 7 injured, police informed The Associated Press, a shocking development at a program that aimed to offer hope to the needy. One witness said the useless included a pregnant lady and many youngsters.

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

Such events are common in Nigeria, Africa’s largest financial system, where more than 80 million people stay in poverty, based on authorities statistics.

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

Godwin Tepikor from Nigeria’s Nationwide Emergency Management Company stated first responders were capable of evacuate the our bodies of those trampled to loss of life and bring them to the morgue. Safety forces cordoned off the world.

Dozens of residents later thronged the scene, mourning the dead and offering any assistance they could to emergency employees. Medical doctors and emergency workers handled a number of the injured as they lay in the open subject. Videos from the scene showed the clothes, sneakers and different items meant for the beneficiaries.

One witness who only identified himself as Daniel said "there were so many youngsters” among the useless. 5 of the lifeless youngsters had been from one mom, he told the AP, including that a pregnant lady also lost her life.

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

The police spokeswoman mentioned the seven injured had been “responding to therapy."

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

Nigeria has seen similar stampedes up to now.

Twenty-four people died at an overcrowded church gathering within the southeastern state of Anambra in 2013, while not less than 16 people had been killed in 2014 when a crowd obtained out of control 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.