7 PTI workers dead due to stampede after Multan rally
Incident took place due to stampede that broke after the public gathering ended in Multan
MULTAN: (Dunya News) – Stampede claimed 7 lives in Multan and left several injured and unconscious immediately after the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) public meeting ended in the Multan Stadium. Thousands of workers tried to get out of the stadium immediately after the gathering ended due to which 7 workers of the party died of suffocation and several others went unconscious and injured.
Volunteers shifted the injured and dead bodies to Nishter Hospital, Multan. Sources claim that there were around 80,000 people present in the meeting but there was only one gate for the entrance and exit of the workers. Injured in large numbers are still present outside the stadium while the volunteer teams are giving them medical help.
PTI spokesperson Shirien Mazari said that the incompetence of the district administration caused the incident. “We pleaded before Elite Force to get the stage vacated but they did not listen to us”, she said. Talking to Dunya News, she said that even lives of the PTI leaders were threatened.
Awami Muslim League (AML) leader Sheikh Rasheed Ahmad admitted that the arrangements for the gathering were not good. He said that he reached the stage by climbing on a pole. He said that loss of 7 lives is not a routine incident and PTI leadership will surely take notice of it. He said that there were more people than expected. “I told Imran Khan that the crowd is huge and the conditions are not right”, AML leader said.
Chief Minister Punjab Shahbaz Sharif has ordered inquiry into the matter and has directed the administration to provide all the medical facilities to the injured.
