Stampede: Woman dies of suffocation

RAWALPINDI:

A woman died in a stampede during the distribution of free foodstuff in the RA Bazaar area on Friday.

The police said a stampede broke out while foodstuff was being distributed on Tufail Road.

“While the people were standing in queues when all at a sudden they started pushing each others that led to the stampede,” said Rizwan Ahmad, a police official at the RA Bazaar Police Station.

Musarat Bibi, 40, was trampled underfoot by people rushing to receive charity, the police official said, adding that the three policemen assisting the distributors could not control the situation.
“She lost consciousness and died on the way to the District Headquarters Hospital.”

While quoting doctors, Ahmad said her death was caused by suffocation due to the sweltering heat.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 21^st, 2014.