A stampede that occurred during the New Years celebration in a shopping mall in Kampala, the capital of Ugandahas left at least nine dead and several injuredaccording to local police.
The stampede occurred after the fireworks outside the Freedom City shopping center, in the south of the African city, and caused “the instant death of 5 people and hurt many others.”
Another four people died on the way to the hospital., mainly due to suffocation. Among the victims were young people, according to Patrick Onyango, spokesman for the Kampala police, told Agence France Presse (AFP).
“It was chaos,” a witness, Sylvia Nakalema, a 27-year-old businesswoman, told AFP. New Year’s celebrations in Uganda, which were taking place for the first time in three years due to restrictions due to the covid-19 pandemic and security concerns, were marred by this tragic incident.
According to the police spokesman, Luke Owoyesigyire, in a statement, the acts of “recklessness and negligence” that caused the stampede have to do with “the lack of control of the flow of people and the lack of security.”
The rescuers arrived at the scene and transferred the injured to the hospital, where the death of nine people in total was confirmed.. Authorities are following up to determine the exact number of deaths and contact their relatives.
The NTV television channel showed images of several families gathered in a morgue in the capital. In 2009, another stampede at an amusement park in Kansanga, near Kampala, left one dead and three injured.
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The Ugandan authorities should investigate the circumstances surrounding this latest incident and take steps to prevent a future occurrence.
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