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At least 13 children were killed and many injured in a stampede as they left their primary school in Kenya on Monday, according to local police.
The police have launched an inquiry into what caused the crowd of students to panic, leading to the crash at around at the school in the western town of Kakamega.
The stampede occurred at approximately 5:00 pm (14:00 GMT) when panic broke out as the students went home for the day from Kakamega Primary school.
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The reason for the panic was not immediately unclear.
“We lost 13 children in this stampede and others are in hospital due to injuries,” Kakamega’s police chief David Kabena told PTI.
Taking to Twitter, Kenya Red Cross said that emergency services were responding to a “fatal stampede” at the school.
Former Prime Minister Raila Odinga also expressed his condolence to the horrific incident by taking to Twitter and said, “My heartfelt condolences to parents that have lost loved ones in the unfortunate and regrettable tragedy at Kakamega Primary School. I wish a quick recovery to the injured children and pray that God grant strength to the affected families”.
St John’s Ambulance meanwhile tweeted that at least 14 students had been killed and more than 50 injured, including two who were in an intensive care unit. Some 37 had been treated and discharged from hospital.
The tragedy comes just two days after 20 people were killed in a stampede at an open-air evangelical Christian church service over the border in Tanzania.
In 2016, nine students were killed by a fire at a girls’ high school in the Kibera neighbourhood of Kenya’s capital Nairobi.
(With inputs from agency)
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