Tanzanian Police: 45 Killed in Stampede at Last Week's Magufuli Memorial

Tanzanian police said Tuesday that 45 people were killed in a stampede last week at a public viewing of the body of late President John Magufuli. The fatalities were much higher than the five originally reported.

The March 21 stampede was triggered when a wall collapsed after some people climbed it to view Magufuli’s body at Uhuru Stadium outside Dar es Salaam, according to the city’s police chief, Lazaro Mambosasa. Mambosasa said some of the mourners died of oxygen starvation due to overcrowding at the memorial service. Magufulii died of heart failure on March 17, the government said, although opposition leaders maintain he died of complications from COVID-19.