Stampede kills 11 near consulate
Incident in Afghan city caused by rush for Pakistani visa
At least 11 women were killed yesterday in a stampede in an Afghan football stadium where thousands had gathered to apply for visas at a nearby Pakistan consulate, officials said.
Many people were trampled at the stadium in the city of Jalalabad, the capital of eastern Nangarhar province, with 10 women and threemen injured, provincial governor’s spokesman Attaullah Khogyani told reporters. Provincial hospital spokesman Zaher Adel also confirmed the death toll.
Nangarhar provincial council member Naser Kamawal gave a higher toll of 15 dead and 15 injured.
“Unfortunately this morning tens of thousands of people had come to the football stadium which led to the tragic incident,” Khogyani said.
Gathering at stadium
The Pakistan consulate had resumed issuing visas last week after a seven- month pause because of the coronavirus outbreak.
To avoid large crowds from gathering at the visa centre the applicants had been directed to a nearby football stadium in Jalalabad, Khogyani said.
“There were already thousands of people gathered at the gates of the stadium and women were given the priority to stand in the front,” said witness Abdul Ahad, who had come to the stadium to secure a Pakistani visa.
“When the officials announced that the gates were opening in the morning, everybody rushed to enter the stadium to be the first to deliver their passports,” Ahad told AFP.
“The women, most of them elderly and who were in the front fell and could not get up. It was chaotic.”
Thousands of Afghans from Nangarhar and other nearby provinces had arrived since the early morning to apply for medical visas or to visit relatives.