45 people die in a stampede while jostling to see Magufuli’s corpse, 37 injured

Reports say it all happened during the second day when city residents turned up to pay their last respects at Uhuru Stadium on Sunday, March 21.

Tuko.co.ke reported the Dar es Salaam Special Police Zone Commander Lazaro Mambosasa as having told Mwananchi Newspaper that another 37 mourners were left with various injuries.

“These people were not criminals. They went to the stadium in order to express their love for their departed leader but because the number of people was huge, some became impatient and opted to use unofficial entry points and that was how the problem occurred,” he quoted as having stated.

According to the news portal, some of the victims whose bodies had been identified were a mother, her four children and a househelp who were trampled on by other mourners.

The six were Susan Mtuwa, her two children Nathan and Natalia, aged six and five respectively, Cris, 11, Michelle, eight, and a househelp Anita Mfikwa, 27.

Susan's husband heartbroken George Mtuwa said: "We called her phone in the evening only for a stranger to pick it and tell us that Susan had been involved in a stampede."

He then proceeded to the stadium with some family members to ascertain what had befallen the mother and the kids.

"We found her vehicle parked with no one in it and this raised fear in us that the stranger's report was true," George Mtuwa added.

They hurried to the hospital to look for Susan and the four children, but they did not find them, only to later find them in a morgue. However, they did not find the housegirl, and her whereabouts are yet to be known, Tuko.co.ke’s report said.

45 people die in a stampede while jostling to see Magufuli’s corpse, 37 injured

The sad incident has been confirmed by Tanzanian authorities in Dar es Salaam.

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