9 Die in Stampede During Eid Celebration in Ghana

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.

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