Two women died on Monday in a vicious struggle for COVID-19 palliatives looted by hoodlums in a warehouse on the Secretariat road in Gwagwalada Area Council, Abuja.
According to reports by a Vanguard correspondent, many people were stabbed, some fainted in the commotion, while several others were injured during the struggle.
The palliatives were said to have included rice, salt, noodles, spaghetti and sugar, as well as other condiments.
Sources said that attempts were made to revive those who fainted while the corpses of the deceased women were taken away by some residents.
A mob had besieged the warehouse around 8:00am to ‘collect’ their own share of the food items neither maintaining any queues nor having security personnel around.
An eyewitness, simply identified as Uhiene, said the process was smooth until around midday when it was disrupted by some impatient persons.
“Right now, they (thugs) are pushing people inside, some persons are fainting, some are dying inside,” she added.
Another eyewitness, who preferred anonymity, said: “Getting into the warehouse was very tough and hard. I suffered some bruises, but glory be to God, I made it; because, it was not an easy feat.
“Some are dying in there (the warehouse), others are suffocating, sweating…. There was a woman of 21-years-old that died inside. Another woman also died.
“I saw them myself. They were stepped upon when they fell down (in the stampede). The women couldn’t stand up. They were trampled upon and killed.”
Meanwhile, the FCT Minister, Malam Mohammed Musa Bello, has ordered the arrest and prosecution of the people who broke the warehouse where CACOVID palliatives were being stored in Gwagwalada.
As at the time of filing this report, military personnel have moved in to restore calm in the area while the FCT State Police Command has yet to speak of the attack on the warehouse.