Church service stampede leaves over 20 people dead in Tanzania

ARUSHA, Tanzania - At least 20 people died in a stampede at a church service in northern Tanzania on Saturday night, a government official said on Sunday.

Hundreds of worshipers were attending a prayer service in a stadium at Moshi near the slopes of Mt. Kilimanjaro when the tragedy happened, the official added.

Bonface Mwamposa, a popular preacher with Shine Ministry, was leading the prayer service when the tragedy occurred.

Dozens of people rushed to the front to touch the oil poured on the floor by the preacher to get "cured" when the tragedy happened, witnesses said.

"Twenty people died and 16 others were injured in the incident," Moshi district commissioner Kippi Warioba told Reuters by telephone. Five of those killed were children, he said.

"The stampede occurred when the worshippers were rushing to get anointed with blessed oil," Warioba said.

Mwamposa, a self-proclaimed 'Apostle", has been drawing huge crowds by a promising cure of diseases and prosperity, Reuters reported.

Worshipers who walk on what he describes as "blessed oil" allegedly get healed, witnesses said on Sunday.

But Authorities fear the death toll could rise due to the size of the crowd and dark conditions when the stampede occurred.

"The incident took place at night and there were many people, so there is a possibility that more casualties could emerge. We are still assessing the situation," Warioba said.

Emergency service teams have been dispatched to the site to help in search and rescue missions as authorities investigate the incident, he added.

This is the second tragedy in Tanzania within a span of one year. Last year, hundreds of people drowned at Ukerewe Island when a ferry capsized.

The country has seen a rise in the number of "prosperity gospel" pastors in recent years, who promise to lift people out of poverty and perform what they call miracle cures.

Hundreds of people in the nation of 55 million flocks to Pentecostal churches, whose main source of income is "tithe", the 10% or so of income that worshippers are asked to contribute.

Peter Kilewo, a witness, described the scene as "horrible".

"People trampled on mercilessly, jostling each other with elbows," he told AFP news agency.

"It was like the preacher had thrown bundles of dollars about ... and there were all these deaths!"

President Pombe Magufuli is yet to issue a statement, but he's known to be strict and has often castigated rogue preachers before.

GAROWE ONLINE