Nigeria School Fair Stampede Kills 35 Children

This aerial photograph shows a general view of the city of Ibadan in southwestern Nigeria, where the incident happened

A stampede at a school funfair in the southwestern Nigerian city of Ibadan has killed 35 children and seriously injured six others, police said on Thursday.

The injured children were receiving medical attention following the incident, which happened on Wednesday in Nigeria’s third-largest city, Oyo State Police Command stated.

„8 persons have since been arrested for their different participations”, police representative Adewale Osifeso stated in a declaration.

Among those detained was the main sponsor of the occasion at the Basorun Islamic High School, which was arranged by the Wings Foundation and Agidigbo FM radio.

The Homicide Section of the State Criminal Investigation Department has actually opened a probe, Osifeso added.

Bola Tinubu on Thursday in a declaration „expressed profound unhappiness over the terrible occurrence”.

He provided his „genuine condolences” to residents, state authorities and the „mourning households who have actually lost their cherished kids”.

He advised the „Oyo State federal government to take every required procedure to prevent such a tragedy from persisting”, the declaration by the presidency added.

„Among the essential actions are a detailed evaluation of all public events’ safety procedures, stringent enforcement of security regulations, and routine security audits of occasion locations,” Tinubu included.

– ‘Rest in peace’ –

Nigeria has actually seen numerous lethal stampedes in current months.

In March, two students died and 23 were harmed after being squashed as thousands collected free of charge bags of rice given out by regional authorities at Nasarawa State University, in main Nigeria.

Later that month, another stampede eliminated 4 women who had been waiting outside the workplace of a wealthy business owner in the northern city of Bauchi to gather 5,000 naira ($3.40) money gifts to assist spend for food throughout the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.

Witnesses stated members of the crowd pressed to get hold of the cash, triggering a stampede, as Nigeria came to grips with its worst financial crisis in a generation.

Oyo State Governor Seyi Makinde had actually shared his acknowledgements for the Ibadan victims on X on Wednesday.

„Our hearts stay with the families and loved ones impacted by this disaster. May the souls of the left rest in peace,” Makinde said.

„We sympathise with the parents whose happiness has actually all of a sudden been turned to grieving due to these deaths,” he added.