Children among 31 killed at church honest stampede in Nigeria

ABUJA, Nigeria -- A stampede Saturday at a church charity occasion in southern Nigeria left 31 individuals useless and 7 injured, police advised The Associated Press, a stunning growth at a program that aimed to offer hope to the needy. One witness said the dead included a pregnant woman and many kids.

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, according to Grace Iringe-Koko, a police spokeswoman.

Such events are widespread in Nigeria, Africa’s largest economy, where greater than 80 million folks stay in poverty, in line with government statistics.

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

Godwin Tepikor from Nigeria’s Nationwide Emergency Management Company said first responders have been capable of evacuate the our bodies of those trampled to dying and bring them to the morgue. Security forces cordoned off the world.

Dozens of residents later thronged the scene, mourning the dead and providing any assistance they could to emergency staff. Doctors and emergency staff treated some of the injured as they lay in the open field. Videos from the scene showed the clothing, footwear and different objects meant for the beneficiaries.

One witness who only identified himself as Daniel mentioned "there were so many kids” among the useless. Five of the lifeless children were from one mother, he informed the AP, including that a pregnant girl additionally lost her life.

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

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

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

Nigeria has seen similar stampedes previously.

Twenty-four folks died at an overcrowded church gathering in the southeastern state of Anambra in 2013, while no less than 16 folks had been killed in 2014 when a crowd received out of control throughout a screening for government jobs in the nation's capital, Abuja.

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