10 killed in Bangladesh stampede as thousands gather to receive donations before Ramzan

The stampede began after people jostled to collect clothes and other items at the residence of the owner of a steel mill in Chittagong.

A stampede on Monday by thousands of poor villagers outside the home of a businessman distributing alms ahead of Ramzan killed at least 10 women and injured about 50 people, police in southeast Bangladesh said.

There were 10,000 to 12,000 people who had gathered for alms in Bangladesh’s Chittagong.(Representative image)

It is a custom for Muslims to donate money or goods to the poor before or during the holy fasting month of Ramzan, which is expected to begin on Wednesday or Thursday this week.

The stampede began after people jostled to collect clothes and other items at the residence of the owner of a steel mill, said police official Rafiqul Alam in the district of Chittagong, about 260km from Dhaka, the capital.

“There were 10,000 to 12,000 people, mostly women and trying to push to each other to collect alms ahead of other and that led stamped,” he told Reuters.

The injured were treated at a nearby hospital and allowed to go, police said.