At least 20 people died trampled on Saturday afternoon in Tanzania in a stampede during an open-air evangelical religious service in the north of the country, a government official and witnesses said Sunday. The stampede occurred when the preacher poured "holy oil" on the ground. The faithful then rushed to touch her in the hope of being cured of their illness, witnesses said.
"So far we have counted 20 dead but the number could increase as more have been injured," said Kippi Wariobia, district commissioner for Moshi, in the north of the country, reached by phone from Nairobi. The crowd gathered in the city of Moshi attended a prayer ceremony led by Boniface Mwamposa, who calls himself "the apostle" and leads an evangelical movement called "Rise and shine Tanzania".
"It was horrible, people were trampled on without mercy," said a witness, Peter Kilewo. "It was as if the preacher had thrown bundles of dollars" and "then there were all these deaths ...", he added.
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