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 2 am 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. (dpa/NAN)
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