Fourteen people, some of them children, were killed and 10 injured in a stampede during a gathering at a mosque in China’s Ningxia region, state media reported yesterday.
The stampede occurred at lunchtime on Sunday while traditional food was being handed out to people attending an event to commemorate a late religious leader, Xinhua news agency said, citing the local government.
The injured were hospitalized, with four in critical condition, the brief report said.
One photograph posted online by Chinese news outlets showed six bodies laid out side-by-side inside a building, with several children in colorful outfits among the dead.
“Those poor children,” one online poster said.
Another said: “Are Chinese people so poor, for all this to happen over a piece of pastry?”
Some Internet users displayed images of red candles online to commemorate those who died. Others wondered what might have triggered such a large stampede.
“Could this many people have died trying to get a piece of food?” an online poster said. “I don’t think it’s that simple. It must be thoroughly investigated.”
An inquiry into the stampede’s cause was underway.
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