10 people including children die in stampede in Nigeria at a Christmas charity event

Authorities in Nigeria say 10 people, including four children, have been killed in a stampede in the capital city as a large crowd gathered to collect food items distributed by a local church at an annual Christmas event. Police said the stampede occurred in the early morning hours on Saturday at the Holy Trinity Catholic Church in Maitama, an upmarket part of Abuja. A police spokesman Josephine Adeh that more than 1,000 people have been evacuated from the church. It is the second such stampede in a week in Africa’s most populous country as local organizations, churches and individuals are increasingly organizing charity events ahead of Christmas amid the country’s worst cost-of-living crisis in a generation.