Ten people including children die in a stampede in Nigeria at a Christmas food distribution event

Ten people, including four children, have been killed in a stampede in Nigeria's capital city as a large crowd gathered to collect food items distributed by a local church at a Christmas event, the police said Saturday.

By The Associated Press

The Associated Press
December 21, 2024 at 1:20PM

ABUJA, Nigeria — Ten people, including four children, have been killed in a stampede in Nigeria’s capital city as a large crowd gathered to collect food items distributed by a local church at a Christmas event, the police said Saturday.

The stampede occurred in the early morning hours at the Holy Trinity Catholic Church in Maitama, a high-brow part of Abuja, from where more than 1,000 people have been evacuated, police spokesman Josephine Adeh said in a statement.

It is the second such stampede in a week in Africa's most populous country as local organizations, churches and individuals are increasingly organizing charity events ahead of Christmas amid the country's worst cost-of-living crisis in a generation.

about the writer

about the writer

The Associated Press

The Associated Press

More from World

card image

Germans on Saturday mourned the victims of an apparent attack in which authorities say a doctor drove into a busy outdoor Christmas market, killing five people, injuring 200 others and shaking the public's sense of security at what would otherwise be a time of joy.