Stampede at Angola religious gathering kills 10
A man walks in a street as shoes are scattered on the pavement at the scene of a stampede in Abidjan, on January 1, 2013.At least 61 people died and dozens more were injured in Abidjan as crowds that had gathered for celebratory New Year’s fireworks stampeded overnight, Ivory Coast rescue workers said.
A stampede during a religious gathering at a stadium in Angola's capital Luanda has left 10 people dead and 120 injured, the Associated Press reported, citing local media.
The stampede happened on New Year's eve, when tens of thousands of people gathered for a vigil organized by the Universal Church of the Kingdom of God, a Pentecostal church based in Brazil.
The victims, which included four children, were crushed and trampled at the gates of the overcrowded Cidadela Desportiva stadium, Angola's state news agency said, according to Reuters.
Meanwhile, Ivory Coast is in mourning after at least 61 people died and more than 200 were injured in a stampede after a New Year's eve fireworks event in the commercial capital of Abidjan.
President Alassane Ouattara announced three days of official mourning, and described the deaths as a national tragedy, the BBC reported.
The exact cause of the stampede outside Abidjan's Felix Houphouet Boigny Stadium remains unclear, and an investigation is underway. Many of the dead were under the age of 15.
The New Year's eve fireworks had been promoted as a symbol of peace and national renewal under Ouattara.
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