Nine Killed At Ramadan Festivities Stampede 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 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.