Human Interest

Stampede Kills at Least 29 People, Wounds Dozens in New Kru Town , Health Authorities Confirm

Monrovia: Every year, we hear about some poor  souls dying .

Death by human stampede, after men believed to be criminals,  attacked a healing crusade with machetes and other deadly weapons  is  horrifying.

But why  human beings, instead of helping, will crush someone to death under their feet and not notice?

Most of the victims died, in a vain attempt to escape a targeted attacks on the crusade.

Has the police made any arrest?

A targeted violence at a healing crusade ,  believed to be masterminded by hard core criminals, has killed at least   29 worshipers and wounding dozens, Health authorities have finally confirmed.

But as it turns out, the number one cause of death during human stampedes or crowd crushes is actually compressional asphyxiation. … Even just standing there, if the crowd is dense enough, the pressure can keep your lungs from inflating, and that will be enough to kill you.

In this case we are discussing, the stampede was sparked when believers started to run for their lives, at the already jam packed crusade.

Either the victims are believed to have died from compressional asphyxiation or  crushed to the ground by others fleeing for their lives.

Was the attack on Apostle Kromah’s crusade  orchestrated to taint his character?

Well, this writer can’t authoritatively say, but many are suspicious, that could be the case, justifying that attacks on a religious activity is the first of its kind to be reported in Liberia.

But who is after the powerful man of God, that they didn’t say.

Do we now need security guards for protection, to prevent a recurrence?

To be frank, I have not seen the moving convoy of the man of God, but I’m told that, during major events, he’s heavy seen protected by armed state security. If this is correct, can he also  extend security protection to the attendees too as well?

As part of Liberia’s dark history, the Monrovia Church massacre, also referred to as the St. Peter’s Lutheran Church massacre, was the worst single atrocity of the First Liberian Civil War.

Approximately 600 people were killed at the church in the Sinkor section of Monrovia on 29 July 1990.

The massacre was carried out by approximately 30 government soldiers loyal to President Samuel Doe. The perpetrators were of Doe’s Krahn tribe while most of the victims were from the Gio and Mano tribes, which were in support of the rebels.

Also in  Monrovia on October 29. 2004,  religious riots between Christians and Muslims,  erupted in the Liberian capital Monrovia on Thursday night and continued on Friday morning,  until UN peacekeeping troops restored order and the government imposed an indefinite curfew.

At that time, officials at the city’s main John F. Kennedy hospital,  were not immediately able to give casualty figures, but ambulances raced across the city all day carrying the wounded.

It was reported that at least four persons were killed.

Residents said the trouble began on Thursday night over a land dispute in the eastern suburb of Paynesville and quickly escalated after a car was set on fire and burned down a nearby mosque.

Muslim crowds subsequently burned down three churches and on Friday morning, Christian youths armed with sticks, knives and broken bottles burned down the Muslim Congress High School in central Monrovia, the only Islamic high school in the city. They also tried unsuccessfully to burn down the two main mosques in central Monrovia. Some shops were looted.

The rioters were prevented from torching the city centre mosques by Nigerian peacekeepers who patrolled the city in white armoured cars while UN helicopter gunships clattered overhead. Ghanaian and Irish troops were also involved in helping to restore order.

The late Gyude Bryant, then  chairman of Liberia’s transitional government, said in a radio broadcast  that he was imposing an indefinite curfew and everybody should stay at home. The streets subsequently emptied.

Residents in Paynesville said,  the trouble began when a group of former fighters of the defunct Liberians United for Reconciliation and Democracy (LURD) rebel group,  beat up a man who objected to them building a house on his land. These men were from the Mandingo ethnic group. The injured man’s family and neighbours subsequently set up a manhunt for all Mandingos in the area that led to the burning of the mosque.

After many years of those incidents, and now that muslims and Christians are coexisting as one,  Wednesday’s situation  took many by surprise, that a Crusade became deadly, resulting to loss of lives.

On Wednesday January 19, 2022, the crusade held on D-Tweh field in the Borough of New Kru Town, district #16 Montserrado County, ended in tragedy, causing  the death of at least  29 persons and injuring dozens.

According to  reports  from the Redemption Hospital in the Borough, at least 13 children, 16 women and 2 men were  pronounced dead and several others undergoing treatment at the hospital.

It can be recalled that the apostle Abraham  Kromah , has been performing many sounds and wonders ( healing of sick and casting out demons from people ) in and around Montserrado, something which has drawn many followers to him.

But how  the man  believed to be demons’ destroyer  didn’t even notice the coming of such disaster remains the unanswered question.

The believers, like others , assembled in a crusade to worship God, but not knowing that the end of such gathering would have turned deadly.

Till now, police in Liberia has now announced whether an arrest has been made.

Meanwhile, President Weah has announced a 3-day state Mourning for the loss of those citizens in District #16.

Warning: Viewers discretion are warned, due to the graphic scene of the dead photos.

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