14 dead after stampede for food
Print Edition
At least 14 people, some of them children, were killed and 10 injured in a stampede that broke out as food was being distributed during a religious event at a mosque in the northwest Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region.
The stampede happened at around 1pm on Sunday in the Beida Mosque in Xiji County, Guyuan City, when traditional food was being distributed to believers who had gathered to commemorate a late religious figure.
All the injured were rushed to a hospital in Xiji. Fourteen died despite doctors’ efforts. Ten others are still being treated in hospital. Four in a serious condition have been transferred to a hospital in Guyuan.
People trampled each other as they were rushing for food, said Mao Minna, whose mother and five-year-old daughter also fell during the stampede. Mao said she managed to pull them out, but her daughter was injured.
This year’s event had a record number of participants as it fell over a weekend, said Tan Zongzhi, head of the Xiji Religious Affairs Bureau.
The bodies of the dead have been carried back to their homes for burial.
An investigation into the incident is underway.
A meeting of the Ningxia Communist Party committee yesterday blamed poor organization and insufficient management for the stampede.
A lesson must be drawn and religious administration should be strengthened to avoid all kinds of safety accidents, according to the meeting.
The meeting stressed that the cause of the accident should be discovered as soon possible and those found accountable should be dealt with seriously.
The regional Party committee also demanded all-out efforts to treat those with serious injuries and that information about the accident be announced in a timely manner.
A safety overhaul will be carried out across Ningxia in the first quarter of the year, it added.
One photo posted online by Chinese news outlets showed six bodies laid out side-by-side inside a building, with several children in colorful outfits among the dead.
Some Internet users displayed images of red candles online to commemorate those who died.
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