According to Kampala Metropolitan Deputy Police Spokesperson Luke Owoyesigyire, the incident happened at midnight as the revellers were ushering in the New Year. He says that the revellers had moved out of the mall to watch the fireworks display shortly before the tragedy occurred.
Freedom City
Nine people
were killed in a stampede at Freedom City Mall in Namasuba along the Kampala-Entebbe Road.
According to
Kampala Metropolitan Deputy Police Spokesperson Luke Owoyesigyire, the
incident happened at midnight as the revellers were ushering in the New Year. He says that
the revellers had moved out of the mall to watch the fireworks
display shortly before the tragedy occurred.
“It is alleged that the incident occurred at midnight when the event's
Masters of Ceremony - MC encouraged attendees to go outside and watch
the fireworks display. After the display ended, a stampede ensued,
resulting in the instant deaths of five people and injuries to several
others,” said Owoyesigyire in a statement.
According to
Owoyesigyire, emergency responders arrived on the scene and transported
the injured individuals to the hospital, where nine were confirmed dead. The bodies
were transferred to City Mortuary Mulago for postmortem. He says that investigations
into the incident of rush and negligence have commenced.
Early on
Saturday, URN visited Freedom City Mall where revellers, the majority of whom were children
and women were thronging the venue to attend the ‘party after party’ concert
organized by Abbey Musinguzi, popularly known as Abitex.
The event hosted musicians who included; Eddy Kenzo, Pallaso, Fik Femaica,
Grenade, Geoffrey Lutaaya, Irene Namatovu, Chris Evans, Carol Nantongo, Yaled,
Liam Voice, Feffe Bussi, Hajji Haruna Mubiru, Nina Roz, and Ykee Benda. Others singers were Fresh Kid, Halima Namukula, Martha Mukisa, and stand-up
comedians.
Journalist
Ochola's journalism career begun from Radio King 90.2 FM in Gulu around 2009, and Radio Rupiny 95.7 Fm under Vision Group in 2012. He also reported for Mighty Fire 91.5 Fm, Kitgum in 2015 before joining Wizarts Foundation in 2017.
He has been reporting for Uganda Radio Network (URN) since 2017 before being posted as Bureau Chief Kitgum, and latr Gulu between 2018 - 2021. Currently, he reports from Parliament.