The Pakistani Embassy in Kabul expressed “deep sadness and deep sorrow” over the incident.
Jalalabad:
At least 11 women were killed Wednesday in a stampede at an Afghan football stadium where thousands of people had gathered to apply for Pakistani visas, authorities said.
The incident took place at the stadium in the city of Jalalabad, the capital of eastern Nangarhar province, after large crowds gathered to obtain travel authorization after the neighboring Pakistani consulate resumed operations after a seven-month hiatus due to the pandemic.
To avoid overwhelming the visa center, applicants were directed to the nearby Jalalabad football stadium to hand over their passports and documents, provincial governor spokesman Attaullah Khogyani told reporters.
“Sadly, this morning tens of thousands of people came to the football stadium which led to the tragic incident,” Khogyani said.
Khogyani and provincial hospital spokesman Zaher Adel estimated the death toll at 11 women, while Nangarhar provincial council member Naser Kamawal said 15 people had died and 15 others were injured.
Witness Abdul Ahad said that women were given priority to stand in front of the crowd. In ultra-conservative Afghanistan, it is customary for women to line up separately from men.
“When officials announced that the doors opened in the morning, everyone rushed into the stadium to be the first to issue their passports,” Ahad told AFP.
“The mostly elderly women who were in the front fell and couldn’t get up. It was chaotic.
One woman who survived the stampede recalls hearing screams and seeing pregnant women among those who had a crush.
“Some have miscarried,” the traumatized woman told AFP, refusing to be named.
“One who had been trampled gave birth there. We helped her but her baby was dead. (The mother) was injured, but alive.”
Search for medical visas
The Pakistani Embassy in Kabul expressed “deep sadness and deep sorrow” over the incident.
“The Embassy remains committed to ensuring smooth and efficient management of visa applicants on our side,” said a statement.
“We seek the understanding and cooperation of the Afghan people and authorities for better and safer management of Afghan visa applicants.”
Thousands of Afghans from Nangarhar and other neighboring provinces have arrived since early morning to apply for medical visas or to visit relatives, and hundreds of police have been deployed to the stadium to control the crowds.
Hours after the incident, relatives were seen carrying the dead in coffins from a morgue in Jalalabad.
Many Afghans travel to neighboring Pakistan each year, often for medical or educational purposes, while millions of Afghans have sought refuge there in recent decades to escape war and poverty in a war-ravaged Afghanistan. conflict.
Afghanistan’s health and education systems have been ravaged by four decades of conflict and violence continues daily.
At least 25 members of the Afghan security forces were killed in an ambush blamed on the Taliban in the northeastern province of Takhar on Wednesday, officials said.
(This story was not edited by GalacticGaming staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
