Pakistan: A stampede after an Islamic ceremony killed at least 29 women and children and left more than 100 injured in the southern Pakistani city of Karachi yesterday.
About 10,000 women had gathered in the Faizan-e-Madina mosque to hear sermons about the prophet Muhammad, whose birthday is celebrated tomorrow.
As the ceremony ended, a small girl fell to the ground, crying for help and triggering a wave of panic that caused thousands to rush for the exit.
Witnesses described chaotic scenes as hundreds of women crushed against one another. Some fell to the ground and were trampled underfoot; others suffocated.
"All of a sudden there were screams and shouts," said one woman, Haleema Bibi. "Everyone ran for safety and we did too."
Another said: "It was absolute mayhem. Nobody knew what was happening."
Other witnesses blamed a woman who tried to pluck the fallen girl from the ground, causing those behind her to fall.
"When the woman stopped there was a wave of people who stepped over us," a woman identifying herself as Zaibunisa said from her hospital bed.
It was one of the worst accidents at a women-only religious gathering in Pakistan for years. Blood, veils and hundreds of pairs of shoes were scattered outside the mosque as ambulances ferried the wounded to hospitals.
Medical staff issued public appeals for blood donations.
The bodies of 18 women and four children were taken to the Liaquat National hospital, said Ali Azmat Abdi, the director of the privately run facility. Another seven were taken to another hospital.
At least 40 of the injured were in a "very serious condition", said Mr Abdi.
Hafiz Hassan Attari of Dawat- e-Islami, the organisation that runs the mosque, described the women as martyrs.
Although Karachi has a history of religious violence, mostly between Sunni and Shia extremists, a police spokesman said there were no indications that the stampede had been caused by terrorism.
Stampedes are rare at Islamic events in Pakistan but frequently blight the annual Hajj pilgrimage to Saudi Arabia. More than 360 people died near Mecca last January while almost 1,500 died in a Hajj stampede in 1990.
Seven people died in a Pakistani mosque stampede in March 2003.
- (Guardian service)