SAN FRANCISCO, July 07, (THEWILL) – At least nine people died in Ghana on Thursday during a stampede at festivities celebrating the end of Ramadan in Kumasi, the country’s second-largest city, local Minister Mubarak Muntaka said.
Survivors said the panic broke out at about 2am after electricity was cut to the venue, some 280 kilometres north of the capital Accra.
Muntaka said that organisers of the gathering flouted security orders to end a carnival for the Muslim holiday Eid-al-Fitr, when they relocated several kilometres away to the city’s Asawase community centre.
Witnesses said several people fell and were trampled on as others tried to escape the overcrowded venue through a small exit.
Up to 300 people had been at the community centre at the time of the stampede, eyewitness Charles Amoah Boateng, told the Accra-based radio station citifm.
Muntaka quoted people at the venue blaming the panic on a fight between two groups.
Police said they were investigating the incident.
In similar development, seven persons were killed and 12 others injured when a 40-foot container fell off a truck in the Alakija area on the Lagos-Badagry Expressway on Wednesday.
The truck, with plate number KRD 526 XP, moved from its lane to another lane and rammed into a commercial bus after its brakes failed, thereafter, the container the truck was carrying fell, killing seven people and injuring 12 others.
A minibus, with plate number EPE 972 XH, was crushed, and its passengers trapped while some commercial motorcycle riders at the bus stop were also trapped under the fallen container.
Lagos State Traffic Management Authority and the Lagos State Fire Service were observed at the scene.
The General Manager, Lagos State Emergency Management Agency (LASEMA), Michael Akindele, revealed that investigations conducted by the agency’s Emergency Response Team at the scene of the incident show that the truck lost its brakes and rammed into the minibus.
The Lagos State Police Public Relations Officer, Dolapo Badmos, also confirmed incident.
Story by David Oputah
