The fatal stampede at the Asawase Community Centre that claimed 9 lives on Thursday, was started when the electric meter in the center caught fire, preliminary investigations have revealed.
The Asokore Mampong Municipal Chief Executive, Nurudeen Hamidan, confirmed this to Citi News after a meeting with the Municipal Security Council, noting that the fire started the chaos.
[contextly_sidebar id=”1AJwijCCRDsmX6YPSp34glJg3WAhYAJK”]The said stampede claimed the lives of nine persons while six others were injured during a concert to climax the Eid-ul Fitr celebration. Reports indicate that, there were over 300 celebrants at the community centre at the time.
According to Mr. Hamidan, “Just when they were about to leave the scene when the electricity meter, in the premise sparked. You know when electricity meter sparks, it makes noise, some of them misconstrued the noise to be a gunshot and so they started agitating and they started rushing out of the premises. In the process, the stampede happened”
Mr. Hamidan also said, some of them in their attempt to run out fell in a drain in front of the community center and were trampled upon.
“The stampede actually happened outside the community center. You know when you come out of the centre, there is a small drain, that collects water from the roofing sheet, and you know in the night, when the meter sparked, obviously the lights go off. So, in the process, some of them fell, and people run over them and that caused the stampede,” he explained further.
Community centre to be closed down
The community centre according to Mr. Hamidan, will be closed down with immediate effect and handed over to the Assembly to be managed.
“The entire community centre, with the exception of the post office side which is facing the street, is going be shut down. We are going to close the place to allow thorough investigation to be carried. That community centre, was built as part of the Asawasi Estate development. And so the owners of the centre are the community members. They are the ones who are currently managing the centre. The Assembly is going to take over the management of the centre,” he added.
Interior Ministry charged to investigate incident
The Bureau of Public Safety, has called on the Ministry of Interior to investigate circumstances that led to the stampede, killing nine people at the Asawase community centre in Kumasi, in the Ashanti Region.
It also wants the recommendations arising from the investigation to be implemented across the country.
The Bureau in a statement said it wanted the Interior Ministry to “publish findings and cause recommendations to apply to all event centres across the country.”
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By: Lauretta Timah/citifmonline.com/Ghana