20 persons trampled to death as displaced persons struggle for food

 

Twenty people, many of them women and children, were killed on Monday in a stampede that ensued at a centre where food and money were distributed to displaced people in Diffa, southeast Niger Republic, sources said.

Also, 12 people also sustained injuries when Borno State governor, Prof Babagana Umara Zulum visited displaced persons from Nigeria, in Niger.

“We have a provisional toll of 20 dead,” a medical source said. Aid workers confirmed the account and said 12 people had been injured.

The stampede took place at Art and Culture Center, MTC in Difa, one of the two places that were scheduled for Zulum’s visit.

Governor Zulum visited the country to distribute some relief materials to the victims of Boko Haram insurgency.

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Eye witness said the first day recorded hitch free distribution, but the second day was hectic when more people heard about the exercise and trooped to the location, which led to the stampede.

Governor of Difa and speaker House of Assembly visited the hospital where the corpses are deposited, and also visited the injured ones, but none of them issued a statement.

But analysts are of the opinion that the stampede is a sign that the people are suffering from hunger.