Deadly stampede at Pakistan food distribution centre

At least 11 women and children were killed in a deadly stampede at a Ramadan food and cash distribution center in Pakistan’s southern port city of Karachi on Friday, police and rescue officials said, as the country struggles with surging food prices.

The stampede happened when hundreds of women and children panicked and started pushing each other to collect food outside a factory in a well-known industrial area, known as SITE or Sindh Industrial and Trading Estate. As the stampede began, some women and children fell into an open drain, local police official Mughees Hashmi said.

Residents said a wall also collapsed near the drain, injuring and killing people. The incident left the street that leads to the factory littered with wounded people and dead bodies. It is the deadliest stampede at a food distribution point since the start of fasting during Ramadan. With the latest incident, the death toll from stampedes at free food centers across the country has risen to at least 21 since last week.