Ghana: 9 die in Eid party stampede

By Umaru Sanda Amadu

ACCRA, Ghana (AA) - Nine people died in a stampede during an annual Eid-al Fitr party in Ghana's central city of Kumasi early Thursday, hospital officials said.

The stampede occurred in an overcrowded community center in Asawase, a suburb of the Ashanti regional capital.

Several other injured persons were taken to the nearby Manhyia Government Hospital in Kumasi while the bodies of the dead, including six women, went to the hospital morgue.

The Ashanti regional minister, Alexander Ackong, said the dead will be buried in accordance with Islamic tradition on Thursday.

The late Wednesday/early Thursday party is a common characteristic of Eid celebrations in Ghana, where local artists perform at street carnivals and community parties in many communities.

The local member of Parliament, Mohammed Muntaka Mubarak, confirmed earlier reports that suggested the stampede was triggered by a fight between two rival groups in the town.

"We always have a big carnival anytime there is Eid in Kumasi. But we realized that in recent times the youth will normally group themselves into fun clubs," Mubarak said in a radio interview.

"Sometimes they will wait until around midnight and there will be a fight between one group or the other."

He said the stampede took place around 3 a.m. local time (0300GMT), when a fight broke out between rival groups.

"The only exit gate was too narrow. The place was dark and people stepped on others in a bid to get out. People were biting and pushing each other desperately to get out," a survivor told a local radio station on Thursday.

Nurudeen Hamidan, the municipal chief executive for the locality, said anyone found to have acted negligently would be found and prosecuted.

The young people who organized the event are said to have defied an earlier police directive not to hold the party later than 9 p.m. local time.