Esther Salifu
At least 10 people have reportedly lost their lives, with many more injured, in a devastating stampede at the Holy Trinity Catholic Church in Maitama, Abuja, on Saturday morning.
“This is a terrible tragedy, and our hearts go out to the families of the victims,” said an eyewitness, who wished to remain anonymous. “The crowd was overwhelming, and people were pushing and shoving to get to the palliatives. It was chaos.”
The incident occurred when residents scrambled to receive palliatives distributed by the church, which had organized the event to provide relief to struggling residents. Eyewitnesses claim the incident occurred between 7 am and 8 am on Saturday when the crowd surged forward to receive the palliatives.
“It was like a tsunami,” said another eyewitness. “People were trampled, and others were screaming for help. It was a horrific scene.”
This tragic incident comes on the heels of a similar stampede in Ibadan, Oyo State, just a few days ago, which resulted in the deaths of at least 35 children and left six others critically injured.
As of the time of filing this report, officials from the FCT Emergency Management Department were unavailable for comment.
However, eyewitnesses and residents are calling for greater crowd control measures to prevent such tragedies in the future.
