Youngsters among 31 killed at church fair 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 Associated Press, a surprising development at a program that aimed to offer hope to the needy. One witness mentioned the dead included a pregnant girl and many children.

The stampede on the event organized by the Kings Meeting Pentecostal church in Rivers state concerned people who got here to the church’s annual “Shop for Free” charity program, according to Grace Iringe-Koko, a police spokeswoman.

Such occasions are frequent in Nigeria, Africa’s largest economic system, 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. but dozens arrived as early as 5 a.m. to secure their place in line, Iringe-Koko said. Somehow the locked gate was damaged open, making a stampede, she said.

Godwin Tepikor from Nigeria’s Nationwide Emergency Management Agency said first responders have been in a position to evacuate the our bodies of these trampled to loss of life and convey them to the morgue. Security forces cordoned off the area.

Dozens of residents later thronged the scene, mourning the useless and providing any help they could to emergency workers. Medical doctors and emergency staff handled some of the injured as they lay within the open field. Movies from the scene confirmed the clothing, footwear and different objects meant for the beneficiaries.

One witness who only identified himself as Daniel stated "there have been so many children” among the many dead. Five of the dead kids have been from one mother, he advised the AP, adding that a pregnant woman also lost her life.

Some church members had been attacked and injured by kin of the victims after the stampede, in line with witness Christopher Eze. The church declined to touch upon the situation.

The police spokeswoman said the seven injured have been “responding to therapy."

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

Nigeria has seen similar stampedes prior to now.

Twenty-four individuals died at an overcrowded church gathering within the southeastern state of Anambra in 2013, while not less than 16 individuals were killed in 2014 when a crowd obtained out of control during a screening for government jobs in the nation's capital, Abuja.

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