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On Saturday, a stampede left 31 people dead, and seven injured at a River state church’s annual charity event called “Shop for Free,” a program aiming to assist those in need by providing free gifts and food to celebrate its fourth anniversary by The Associated Press.
The event was organized by the Kings Assembly Pentecostal church in Southern Nigeria and set to begin that Saturday at 9 a.m. Grace Inringe-Koko, a police spokeswoman, said that many arrived as early as Friday and 5 a.m. the day of the event to secure a spot in line. The spokeswoman stated that a locked gate was broken into, causing the stampede. Black Enterprise reported that a source said the gate was left open because a sports group was supposed to have practice at 8 a.m. Unfortunately, the gate enabled people to force their way inside, trampling those at the front.
“I counted about 21 dead bodies on the ground,” one witness recalled. “This is not the first time the church is holding this program, but the crowd since yesterday till this morning is much. It was said that gift items and free food would be served. It is very painful.”
Godwin Tepikor from Nigeria’s National Emergency Management Agency said that dead bodies were able to be evacuated and taken to the morgue by first responders. Emergency personnel tended to the injured at the scene.
Photos and graphic videos show numerous bodies scattered on the ground with clothing items that were meant to be handed out to attendees.
A witness who identified himself as Daniel told AP News that among the dead were “many children” and that a pregnant woman died. Another witness named Christopher Eze said that relatives of the victims attacked some of the Kings Assembly Pentecostal church members following the stampede.
The River state church’s charity event is suspended as the police investigate the stampede.
Nigeria is familiar with stampedes killing a mass of people. In 2013, 24 people died due to overcrowding at a church in the southeastern state of Anambra. In 2014, 16 people died due to a rowdy crowd in Abuja, the nation’s capital.