At least 19 teenagers and children have
died during a stampede at an Eid al-Fitr disco organized to mark the end of the
Muslim holy month of Ramadan in Tanzania, reports said Thursday.
The BBC, quoting police officials in the Tabora region of north- west
Tanzania, said that the stampede occurred Wednesday night after "a
commotion in the disco."
Those killed were aged between 12 and 17, police said. Seventeen
children, some of them as young as five, are being treated in hospital, dpa reported.
Tabora police chief Daudi Siasi said that 400 children had crammed into
the hall despite it only having a capacity of 200.
Siasi said that children began to faint due to a lack of air.
Witness John Mbele told the BBC that he and other passers-by tried to take
children to the hospital by car, but that there were too few people to help.
The managers of the hall have been arrested and are being questioned for their
role in the tragedy.