Eleven persons have died in a stampede that occurred at an all-night crusade in the Zimbabwean town of KweKwe, about 216 kilometres to Harare, the capital.
Forty other persons were injured according to a report by Zimbabwe’s Herald newspaper. Among the dead was a pregnant woman and three minors.
Police provincial spokesman Shadreck Mubaiwa said, “Four people died during a crush at a stadium in Kwekwe. The other seven died on arrival at a state hospital in the town.”
The crusade was the brainchild of a local ‘prophet’, Walter Magaya, founder of the Prophetic Healing and Deliverance Ministries.
The Crusade was held at Mbizo Stadium in Kwekwe and was said to have been attended by over 30,000 people.
According to the Herald, the stampede occurred at the end of the crusade, as the congregants filed out of the stadium. Police denied firing teargas at the faithful. The exact cause of the stampede yet to be ascertained.
The so-called prophet who organised the crusade said he was ‘gutted’ by the news of deaths and injuries at the event.
“It was very sad, the saddest moment of my life”, Magaya said in a statement. He has meanwhile called off the crusade planned for today.