New Year celebrations turn tragic in Uganda. At least 9 people, including children, were killed and several others injured in a stampede at a shopping center in the capital, Kampala. The crowd movement occurred when visitors, mostly young people, gathered towards the exit to watch a fireworks display outside the shopping area.
It was the first New Year celebrations for 3 years in the Ugandan capital, after restrictions due at Covid-19 and the security situation. There was a huge crowd in this shopping center in southern Kampala, survivors told AFP.
The stampede began when the first shots of fireworks were heard outside the shopping area. Visitors flocked to the exit to watch the show. ” There was a huge crowd. People started pushing each other (…), which made some people fall. Children were crying and it was chaos. I survived because I was pushed into a corner by the crowd. At one point, I felt my breath loosing (…), and I couldn’t get out until the situation calmed down. But some people were already on the ground, out of breath “, testified a survivor.
Five people died on the spot and many others were injured, according to the Ugandan national police. Rescuers took the injured to hospital, but four of them died on the way to hospital, bringing the death toll to nine.
Most of the victims are young people aged 10, 11, 14 and 20 “, adds the police, who denounce, without extending, facts ” recklessness and negligence “.
It all happened at midnight.
National Police Spokesman Luke Owoyesigyire
In New Year 2009, a similar stampede left one dead and three injured in front of the Kansanga amusement park, south of the Ugandan capital.