A stampede at a Ramadan food distribution centre in Pakistan’s southern city of Karachi has killed at least 11 people, all women and children, according to police and rescue officials.
Several people were also injured in Friday’s incident, which happened when hundreds of people panicked and started pushing each other to collect food outside a factory. Some of them fell into a nearby drain, police official Mughees Hashmi said.
Residents said a wall also collapsed near the drain, injuring and killing people amid the stampede.
Local media reported that eight women and three children died.
Hashmi said the factory owner who organised the food distribution centre had not alerted police about the plan. He said local police were unaware of the distribution, otherwise they might have deployed forces.
Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, who is from Sindh province, whose capital is Karachi, ordered authorities to investigate what caused the incident.
