Nine people were also injured after crowd rushes toward exit at event in Bujumbura.
On Monday, the Burundi National Police (PNB) confirmed that at least eight people were killed and nine others were injured in a stampede during a religious gathering in Bujumbura.
The incident occurred on Saturday night at the end of a meeting organized by the “Kanguka” movement, led by evangelical preacher Chris Ndikumana, at a school in the northeastern part of the capital.
Preliminary investigations indicated that the tragedy unfolded when a crowd attempted to leave the venue simultaneously through the main gate. The large number of people exceeded the exit’s capacity, triggering panic, a massive stampede and damage to the school’s perimeter fence.
Between Saturday afternoon and early Sunday morning, emergency teams inspected health care facilities in the area to confirm the casualty toll. Roi Khaled Hospital reported the deaths of five women and one man, while the Bujumbura Military Hospital confirmed the deaths of two additional women.
The text reads, “Kangula: the crusade has just begun! A huge crowd has already gathered at ETS Kamenge in Bujumbura. The participants are singing songs of praise and worship in an atmosphere of great spiritual fervor.”
Ndikumana, whose YouTube channel has more than one million subscribers, leads the “Kanguka” movement and regularly draws large crowds to his religious services across several African countries, where some of his followers attribute to him the ability to heal illnesses through prayer.
Stampedes at large religious events are a recurring phenomenon on the continent. One of the deadliest previous incidents occurred in neighboring Tanzania in 2020, when at least 20 people died during an outdoor service after a crowd surged forward to receive an anointing with blessed oil.
In 2022, another stampede killed 31 people in the Nigerian city of Port Harcourt during a food distribution organized by a church. That same year, in Liberia, a stampede triggered by an attack by a group of thieves on worshippers leaving an evangelical gathering left at least 29 people dead, including 11 children.
teleSUR/ JF
Source: EFE
0 Comentarios