The Police Command in Rivers has confirmed the death of 31 persons in a stampede during an outreach programme organised by a new generation church, Kings Assembly, on Saturday in Port Harcourt.

It was an annual give-away service which the church had put together to share free food and other valuable items to members of the public.

The church, located at Tombia extension GRA had organized the heavily advertised  programme at the Polo Club in the same area. The give-away nature of the programme  attracted a huge crowd which led to the disaster before commencement of the event as people pushed and shoved for space.

“The stampede occurred when food items and other gifts were being distributed leading to the stampede. Some persons were trampled while some dropped dead out of exhaustion”, a witness said.

The acting Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO) of the command, Grace Iringe-Koko, confirmed the incident, stressing that for now only 31 persons had been confirmed dead.

Iringe-Koko said that the church had invited members of the public to the event where it would share some gift items to its members, including food stuffs.

She said that the event was held at the Port Harcourt Polo Club, a bigger facility to accommodate the anticipated crowd, including the underprivileged.

Though the programme was billed to start by 9a.m., some of the participants arrived as early as 7am, a witness recounted.