Kids among 31 killed at church honest stampede in Nigeria

ABUJA, Nigeria -- A stampede Saturday at a church charity event in southern Nigeria left 31 people useless and seven injured, police told The Related Press, a stunning development at a program that aimed to supply hope to the needy. One witness mentioned the lifeless included a pregnant girl and many children.

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

Such events are widespread in Nigeria, Africa’s largest economic system, where greater than 80 million individuals dwell in poverty, based on government statistics.

Saturday’s charity program was supposed to begin at 9 a.m. but dozens arrived as early as 5 a.m. to secure their place in line, Iringe-Koko said. Somehow the locked gate was broken open, making a stampede, she mentioned.

Godwin Tepikor from Nigeria’s Nationwide Emergency Administration Company said first responders had been able to evacuate the our bodies of these trampled to death and bring them to the morgue. Security forces cordoned off the realm.

Dozens of residents later thronged the scene, mourning the useless and offering any assistance they may to emergency employees. Docs and emergency staff handled among the injured as they lay within the open subject. Movies from the scene showed the clothes, sneakers and different objects meant for the beneficiaries.

One witness who solely identified himself as Daniel stated "there have been so many kids” among the dead. 5 of the dead children have been from one mom, he told the AP, including that a pregnant girl also lost her life.

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

The police spokeswoman said the seven injured had been “responding to treatment."

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

Nigeria has seen comparable stampedes in the past.

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

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