29 people died overnight from a stampede at a church gathering in Liberia’s capital Monrovia killed, the deputy information minister told state radio on Thursday.
The incident occurred during an all-night Christian worship event at New Kru Town, a neighbourhood on the outskirts of the capital, Jalawah Tonpo said, calling into state radio from a nearby hospital.
“The doctors said 29 persons died and some are on the critical list,” Tonpo said.
According to witnesses, the stampede began after a group of armed men with cutlasses and other weapons rushed the crowd in an attempt to stage a robbery.
Bands of Liberian street gangs known as Zogos are known for committing robberies with machetes and other small weapons.
Police spokesman Moses Carter said an investigation is under way.
President George Weah, who is expected to visit the site on Thursday afternoon, declared a three-day period of national mourning and said the Liberian Red Cross and Disaster Management Agency had been called in to assist victims, his office said.
