Youngsters among 31 killed at church honest stampede in Nigeria

ABUJA, Nigeria -- A stampede Saturday at a church charity occasion in southern Nigeria left 31 people lifeless and seven injured, police instructed The Related Press, a shocking improvement at a program that aimed to offer hope to the needy. One witness stated the lifeless included a pregnant lady and lots of 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 “Store for Free” charity program, in response to Grace Iringe-Koko, a police spokeswoman.

Such occasions are common in Nigeria, Africa’s largest financial system, where greater than 80 million folks stay in poverty, in response to 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 said. Somehow the locked gate was damaged open, creating a stampede, she said.

Godwin Tepikor from Nigeria’s Nationwide Emergency Management Agency mentioned first responders were able to evacuate the our bodies of those trampled to demise and bring them to the morgue. Safety forces cordoned off the realm.

Dozens of residents later thronged the scene, mourning the lifeless and offering any assistance they could to emergency staff. Medical doctors and emergency staff handled a number of the injured as they lay within the open field. Videos from the scene showed the clothes, shoes and other objects meant for the beneficiaries.

One witness who only identified himself as Daniel stated "there have been so many kids” among the lifeless. 5 of the dead kids had been from one mom, he instructed the AP, including that a pregnant girl also misplaced 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 situation.

The police spokeswoman said the seven injured were “responding to remedy."

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

Nigeria has seen comparable stampedes in the past.

Twenty-four people died at an overcrowded church gathering in the southeastern state of Anambra in 2013, while no less than 16 individuals were killed in 2014 when a crowd received out of control during a screening for presidency jobs in the nation's capital, Abuja.

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