The Police Command in Rivers State has confirmed the death of 31 persons in a stampede during an outreach programme organised by a new generation church, Kings Assembly, on Saturday in Port Harcourt.
The command also disclosed that those who were injured were “swiftly evacuated to the hospital for immediate medical treatment”.
According to the statement by the command’s Public Relations Officer, Grace Iringe Koko, preliminary investigations conducted by the command indicate that the “unfortunate incident occurred when the management of Kings Church Assembly organised a crusade which attracted mammoth crowd”.
The church was meant to give out food items to the less privileged.
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The police said the crowd was “uncontrollable” and “all efforts made by the organisers to bring sanity proved abortive”.
The Commissioner of Police, Friday Eboka, while condemning the incident, has directed the Deputy Commissioner of Police in Charge of the State Criminal Investigations Department to carry out discrete investigations into the incident.
He further called on religious and charity organizations to ensure they work with the police for security and crowd control management in organising their programmes in the future.
The commissioner also commiserated with the bereaved families and prayed to God to comfort and grant them the fortitude to bear the loss.