Eleven people were killed in a stampede during the distribution of food aid in the southern Pakistani city of Karachi on Friday (March 31), one of several such incidents in recent weeks as the country’s economic crisis bites.
The dead included five women and three children, according to police, who said another five people were hospitalized with injuries from the rush of people at a charity distribution site at a factory.
Thousands of people have gathered at flour distribution centres set up across the country, part of a government-backed program to ease the impact of inflation, which is running above 30%, a 50-year high.
At least five other people have been killed and several injured in recent weeks at sites in other provinces in Pakistan. Thousands of bags of flour have also been looted from trucks and distribution points, according to official records.
