Stampede injures 40 at Pretoria church
About 40 people were injured when they tried to gain access to a church event at the Tshwane Events Centre at the Pretoria show grounds on Sunday morning, paramedics said.
“Shortly before 8am paramedics from ER24 and various other services were called to the scene after an alert was received that a stampede occurred at the venue,” ER24 said in a statement.
When paramedics arrived on the scene they found about 40 people with various injuries. Some of the people were sitting and some were still walking around. Local emergency services, along with law enforcement, started assessing people to determine their injuries.
A woman, believed to be in her 60s, was found with severe pelvic injuries. She was in a serious condition and rushed to a nearby hospital for further care. A man, believed to be in his late 30s, was found with severe knee injures and was also rushed to a nearby hospital, ER24 said.
The remainder of the patients on the scene were triaged and assessed by paramedics. Thirteen people were transported to hospital for injuries ranging from minor to moderate. Some of the people with minor injuries declined to be transported to hospital and indicated they would go back to the church event.
The cause of the incident was not yet known. Several people indicated to paramedics that a church event was held on the premises every Sunday and they were gathering outside the closed gate when people started pushing from the back to gain access. The gate eventually burst open and some people fell to the ground with other people falling and trampling over them, ER24 said.
ER24 resources from as far as Johannesburg were dispatched to the scene to assist, as were the local authorities.