At least nine people were killed and many injured in a stampede in a shopping mall during New Year’s Eve celebrations in Uganda’s capital, Kampala.
National Police spokesman Luke Owoyesigyire followed up on the melee after fireworks exploded outside the Freedom City shopping center in the South African city, which left “five people instantly killed and many injured”.
Four more people died on the way to the hospital, “largely from suffocation,” he continued.
Rescuers who came to the scene took the injured to the hospital, and it was confirmed that a total of 9 people died here,” he said.
A police spokesperson reported that “young people” were among the victims, referring to acts of “carelessness and neglect”.
Kampala police spokesman Patrick Onyango confirmed this information and told AFP that most of the victims were “young people aged 10, 11, 14 and 20”.
‘There was chaos’
“There are several injured and our investigation team is tracking and contacting their families to obtain the exact number and full details of the deceased,” Onyango said. Said.
“The event started well until the moment we went to watch the fireworks,” 27-year-old businesswoman Sylvia Nakalema told AFP.
“There was a big crowd. People started pushing each other (…), which caused some of them to fall to the ground, and then the flock started. There were children crying and it was messy,” he recalls.
“I survived because I was cornered by the crowd. For an hour I felt breathless, but I stayed where I was because I had nowhere to go until the situation calmed down. Some people were already on their way. The place was out of breath,” he described.
NTV television broadcast images of many families gathered in a morgue in the capital.
In 2009, one person was killed and three others injured in a similar incident at an amusement park in Kansanga, a city near Kampala.
In Uganda, a country located in Central Africa, this New Year celebrations was celebrated for the first time in three years after the restrictions imposed due to the Kovid-19 outbreak and security problems were lifted.
source: Noticias
Mark Jones is a world traveler and journalist for News Rebeat. With a curious mind and a love of adventure, Mark brings a unique perspective to the latest global events and provides in-depth and thought-provoking coverage of the world at large.