At least 20 people trampled during church service in Tanzania

At least twenty people have been killed in action during an evangelical church service in a stadium in northern Tanzania. There were also five children among the victims. Sixteen people were injured, according to a government official.

Hundreds of believers attended the church service last night in a stadium in Moshi, south of Mount Kilimanjaro. When they rushed to be ceremoniously anointed with “blessed oil”, they trampled each other. The authorities fear that the death toll may still rise.

Pastor Boniface Mwamposa draws enormous crowds of people to his services. He promises prosperity and healing to his followers by anointing them with his “blessed oil”. Mwamposa, who calls himself “the Apostle”, got away after the incident. The Tanzanian police called on Mwamposa via national television this morning to report themselves for interrogation.

President mourns

In Tanzania, the number of so-called ‘prosperity preachers’ has risen in recent years. They promise to take people out of poverty and to perform miraculous healings.

President John Magufuli announced that he mourned the death of the twenty people in Moshi. He also considered 20 others who had died in the southern Lindi region last week due to floods.