Nigeria Christmas stampede: 10 dead, including children [Video]

Ten people, including four children, were killed in a stampede in Nigeria’s capital city as a large crowd gathered to collect food and clothing items distributed by a local church at an annual Christmas event, the police said Saturday.

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.

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Saturday’s stampede occurred in the early hours at the Holy Trinity Catholic Church in Maitama, an upmarket part of Abuja, police spokesman Josephine Adeh said in a statement, adding that more than 1,000 people have been evacuated from the church.

There had been a crowd surge at one of the church gates as dozens tried to enter the …