{"id":375729,"date":"2017-11-20T13:58:20","date_gmt":"2017-11-20T13:58:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/citifmonline.com\/?p=375729"},"modified":"2017-11-20T15:24:57","modified_gmt":"2017-11-20T15:24:57","slug":"morocco-food-stampede-kills-15","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/2017\/11\/morocco-food-stampede-kills-15\/","title":{"rendered":"Morocco food stampede kills 15"},"content":{"rendered":"
At least 15 people have been killed and five others wounded in a stampede in Morocco while food aid was distributed.<\/p>\n
The incident occurred in the town of Sidi Boulaalam in Essaouira province. The aid was being handed out by a private local charity.<\/p>\n
Some reports indicate that up to 40 people were injured in the crush. Local media reported that most of the victims were women and elderly people.<\/p>\n
Pictures on social media showed bodies of women laid out on the ground.<\/p>\n
Witnesses told local media that this year’s annual food aid distribution at a local market in Sidi Boulaalam, an impoverished town with just over 8,000 inhabitants, attracted a larger crowd than usual.<\/p>\n
“This year there were lots of people, several hundred people,” a witness who asked to remain anonymous told AFP news agency.<\/p>\n
“People shoved, they broke down the barriers,” he said, adding that the injured had been evacuated to a hospital in Marrakesh.<\/p>\n
Morocco’s interior ministry said that King Muhammed VI had instructed the local authorities to help those affected, adding that he would personally cover all medical and funeral costs.<\/p>\n
An unverified video shot by a bystander before the incident showed a large crowd gathered at the open-air market, waiting for the food distribution.<\/p>\n
It is not clear what triggered the stampede, and an investigation is now under way.<\/p>\n
–<\/p>\n
Source: BBC<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
At least 15 people have been killed and five others wounded in a stampede in Morocco while food aid was distributed. The incident occurred in the town of Sidi Boulaalam in Essaouira province. The aid was being handed out by a private local charity. Some reports indicate that up to 40 people were injured in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":375806,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[107],"tags":[14761,3,203],"yoast_head":"\n