One of the survivors of the Eid celebration stampede that kill about 9 at the Asawase Community Center in Kumasi in the Ashanti Region, Charles Amoah Boateng said the rush to leave the building triggered the stampede.
Charles, who spoke to Kumasi based Angel FM said the about 300 celebrants rushed to the only entrance when the program ended at about 2am.
“The show started at around 9pm. It ended at about 2am. At that time, all the lights were off. And people were rushing to get out. Some of the doors were also locked. So we all got stuck at one entrance which was also not big enough,” he recalled.
[contextly_sidebar id=”PgK2REFULtcR1FUPy9MGTUcQx7EwP2VS”]Nine people, including six females are feared dead in the incident, which happened during an event organized to climax the Eid.
According to Charles, the celebrants were stuck behind the entrance for about an hour, before help came.
He said, “there was intense heat, yet we could do nothing about it. People were stepping on each other, and crying. I could do nothing. I couldn’t shout. I tried to get help but to no avail. I was so weak and I was crying. At a point, someone held my hand and pulled me out. Then I passed out.”
Six people are currently receiving treatment at the Manhyia Government Hospital, with one said to be in very critical condition.
Police stops carnival
Member of Parliament for Asawase, Alhaji Mohammed Mubarak Muntaka in an interview on the Citi Breakfast Show explained that massive carnivals are usually held in Asawase to commemorate Eid celebrations but stakeholders had complained about fights among youth groups which characterizes such events.
“Normally we always have a big carnival anytime there is Eid in Kumasi. But we realised that in recent times the youth will normally put themselves into fun clubs…having their canopies group by group. So we realised that the thing was getting out of hand because sometimes, they will wait until around midnight and there will be a fight between one group or the other and then you will hear all sorts of things happening.”
The MP said they announced that “we are not going to allow the carnival to last more than 8:30pm.” He added that around 9pm on Wednesday, the Police were dispatched to stop the jam from proceeding saying unknown to them, some of the youth groups proceeded to the Asawase Community centre to continue with the celebration.
“…not knowing that, a group had relocated from the carnival environs where we all know that this thing normally happens into the Asawase community centre which is far away from the carnival ground. We didn’t expect that people will go to these areas.”
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By: Eugenia Tenkorang/citifmonline.com/Ghana