A stampede in Nigeria’s Port Harcourt killed a minimum of 31 individuals and injured a number of others, officers mentioned on Saturday.
The gang was ready for the beginning of a charity occasion the place meals and presents had been to be distributed.
Initials experiences indicated that the tragedy came about at an area church. Nonetheless, native information outlet Punch reported that the church leaders really organized the occasion on the Port Harcourt Polo Membership as a result of it had extra room. Some residents apparently began ready in line as early as Friday for the occasion that was attributable to begin at 9 a.m. native time on Saturday.
“Individuals had been there earlier and a few bought impatient and began dashing, which led to stampeding,” mentioned police spokesperson Grace Iringe-Koko.
Finally, the gang broke by way of the church gate and a number of the individuals on the scene had been trampled.
“The police are on the bottom monitoring the state of affairs whereas the investigation is ongoing,” in line with Iringe-koko.
Nigeria has seen a number of lethal stampedes lately, together with one final yr within the northern state of Borno, which claimed seven lives. Not less than 15 individuals had been killed in a stampede at an election rally for Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari in 2019.
dj/msh (Reuters, AFP, dpa)