At least 29 people, including 11 children and a pregnant woman, were killed when robbers triggered a stampede at a religious rally in Liberia’s capital, officials said on Thursday.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The disaster occurred at around 9pm on Wednesday at a Christian prayer gathering in New Kru Town, a poor suburb of Monrovia, police spokesman Moses Carter told AFP.<\/p>\n

The death toll is provisional and “may increase” as some people are in critical condition, Carter said.<\/p>\n

A group of young boys attempted to rob worshippers as they were leaving the gathering, causing them to retreat in panic, he said.<\/p>\n

Deputy Minister for Press Jallawah Tonpoe told reporters at Monrovia’s Redemption Hospital that there were 11 children and a pregnant woman among the 29 dead.<\/p>\n

Fifteen people have also been admitted to hospital, he said, including seven children.<\/p>\n

President George Weah declared a three-day period of mourning and ordered an investigation, his office stated.<\/p>\n

Local media said the event was a Christian prayer meeting — known in Liberia as a “crusade” — held on a football pitch in New Kru Town.<\/p>\n

Such gatherings typically gather thousands of people in Liberia, a highly religious country where a majority of the population of five million are Christians.<\/p>\n

Pastor Abraham Kromah, a popular preacher, staged the two-day prayer event, which attracted large crowds, according to images circulating on social media.<\/p>\n

– ‘Zogo boys’ –<\/h2>\n

One of the attendees, Elisabeth Wesseh, told AFP that “zogo boys” — a local term for young criminals — had threatened worshippers with knives at the entrance, demanding money and telephones.<\/p>\n

“We got afraid and started rushing to the door,” the 34-year-old said, adding that the doorway was too narrow for everyone to get through.<\/p>\n

Eye witness Emmanuel Gray, 26, told AFP he heard “heavy noise” towards the end of the event, and saw several dead bodies.<\/p>\n

Liberia, Africa’s oldest republic, is an impoverished country that is still recovering after back-to-back civil wars between 1989-2003, which killed about 250,000 people.<\/p>\n

It was also ravaged by the 2014-2016 West Africa Ebola epidemic.<\/p>\n

According to the World Bank, 44 percent of Liberia’s population lives on less than $1.9 a day.<\/p>\n

Accidents and disasters are also relatively common.<\/p>\n

A stampede at a similar\u00a0prayer event in the centre of Liberia in November 2021 killed two infants, and hospitalised several others, according to local media.<\/p>\n

Seventeen people were also reported missing after a shipwreck off the country’s coast in July last year. And about 50 people died in a mine collapse in the northwestern Liberia in May 2020.<\/p>\n

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At least 29 people, including 11 children and a pregnant woman, were killed when robbers triggered a stampede at a religious rally in Liberia’s capital, officials said on Thursday.   The disaster occurred at around 9pm on Wednesday at a Christian prayer gathering in New Kru Town, a poor suburb of Monrovia, police spokesman Moses Carter told AFP. The death toll is provisional and “may increase” as some people are in critical condition, Carter said. A group of young boys attempted to rob worshippers as they were leaving the gathering, causing them to retreat in panic, he said. Deputy Minister […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":37990,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[567,562],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-37989","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-international-news","category-yeswecantv-news"],"yoast_head":"\n