At least 29 people died Wednesday night in Liberia’s capital Monrovia in a mob attack during a christian religious rally at a soccer field, police said.
“Children who were taking part in the crusade,” the name given to such gatherings, were among the victims, police spokesman Moses Carter said.
He added that the death toll could rise. “The number (of deaths) could increase because other people are in critical condition,” he said.
The reasons for the tragedy are unknown. Confirmed information on the circumstances is sketchy.
Local media reported that the worshippers were attacked by bandits, which caused panic.
The incident occurred during a two-day gathering in the impoverished New Kru neighborhood on the eastern outskirts of the capital. The prayer rally around a popular preacher, Pastor Abraham Kromah, drew large crowds, according to images broadcast by the media and on social networks.
Such demonstrations, characterized by their fervor, are common in this very religious and predominantly Christian country, one of the poorest in the world, which has been hard hit in its recent history.
Liberia, a country of about 5 million people on the Atlantic coast, is struggling to recover from two civil wars that left some 250,000 people dead and hundreds of thousands displaced between 1989 and 2003.
The two civil wars caused the collapse of the state, devastating the economy and industrial infrastructure.