Youngsters amongst 31 killed at church honest stampede in Nigeria

ABUJA, Nigeria -- A stampede Saturday at a church charity event in southern Nigeria left 31 people lifeless and seven injured, police told The Associated Press, a surprising improvement at a program that aimed to offer hope to the needy. One witness said the lifeless included a pregnant girl and plenty of kids.

The stampede at the event organized by the Kings Meeting Pentecostal church in Rivers state concerned individuals who got here 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 financial system, the place more than 80 million folks stay in poverty, in accordance with authorities statistics.

Saturday’s charity program was supposed to start at 9 a.m. but dozens arrived as early as 5 a.m. to safe their place in line, Iringe-Koko mentioned. Someway the locked gate was broken open, creating a stampede, she stated.

Godwin Tepikor from Nigeria’s Nationwide Emergency Management Company mentioned first responders have been able to evacuate the our bodies of these trampled to death and bring them to the morgue. Security forces cordoned off the area.

Dozens of residents later thronged the scene, mourning the lifeless and offering any assistance they could to emergency staff. Docs and emergency staff treated some of the injured as they lay within the open subject. Movies from the scene confirmed the clothing, shoes and other objects meant for the beneficiaries.

One witness who only identified himself as Daniel said "there have been so many kids” among the many useless. Five of the dead youngsters had been from one mother, he advised the AP, adding that a pregnant lady additionally 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 situation.

The police spokeswoman stated the seven injured have been “responding to therapy."

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

Nigeria has seen comparable stampedes previously.

Twenty-four people died at an overcrowded church gathering in the southeastern state of Anambra in 2013, while a minimum of 16 people have been killed in 2014 when a crowd acquired out of control during a screening for government jobs in the nation's capital, Abuja.

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