Women leave with their free sack of wheat flour at a distribution point in Lahore, Pakistan [File: KM Chaudary/AP]
A stampede at a Ramadan food distribution centre in Pakistan’s southern city of Karachi has killed at least 11 people, all women and children, according to police and rescue officials.
Several people were also injured in Friday’s incident, which happened when hundreds of people panicked and started pushing each other to collect food outside a factory. Some of them fell into a nearby drain, police official Mughees Hashmi said.
Residents said a wall also collapsed near the drain, injuring and killing people amid the stampede.
Local media reported that eight women and three children died.
Hashmi said the factory owner who organised the food distribution centre had not alerted police about the plan. He said local police were unaware of the distribution, otherwise they might have deployed forces.
Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, who is from Sindh province, whose capital is Karachi, ordered authorities to investigate what caused the incident.
The stampede is the deadliest at Ramadan food distribution points since the start of the Muslim holy month of fasting last week.
With the latest incident, the death toll from stampedes at free food centres across the country has risen to at least 21 since last week.
Local resident Mohammad Arsalan said he lives near the factory where people had gathered since the morning to collect the free food. He said he did not know what exactly caused the incident, but “we heard cries and later learned about this stampede”.
Friday’s incident comes a day after authorities ordered the deployment of additional police at the Ramadan food distribution centres to avoid dangerous overcrowding.
