On Saturday, at least 31 people were killed in a stampede at an event organized by a church in southern Nigeria, where free food and other items were to be given to poor citizens.
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Local authorities said hundreds of individuals attending the religious center in the city of Port Harcourt, Rivers State, broke a door and unleashed chaos.
The church, known as Kings Assembly, convened an event in which it promised to give gift items and food to hundreds of parishioners who turned out this morning.
"They were about to start the activity, but some people went there, broke into the place, people started running in and there was a stampede", explained police officer Grace Iringe-Koko.
"Meanwhile, we started an investigation to determine the remote and immediate causes of the incident", Iringe-Koko said.
Some of the guests had arrived since Friday night, while others arrived at 06H30 hours this Saturday for the event scheduled for 09H00 hours.
In recent years, events of this kind have occurred frequently in Nigeria in connection with the distribution of food, due to the difficult situation of hunger and shortages experienced by the people of this African nation.
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