Lucky Obukohwo Reporting
Tragedy has struck at Christ the King Catholic Church (CKC) in Aba, Abia state as two church worshipers were said to have been suffocated to death while many others were injured following an overflow of worshippers during a procession at the church.
It will be noted that the procession, titled,’’Christ the King Sunday”, is celebrated in the Roman Catholic Church and the Lutheran Church on the last Sunday of the liturgical year, as a feast to mark Jesus Christ’s messianic kingship and sovereign rule over all creations.
It was gathered that during the procession organized by the Catholic Diocese of Aba, urban parishes within the City throng the CKC premises along Asa Road, to perform the yearly rites.
This year’s procession it was equally learnt, recorded a large crowd which overflew the premises.
As a result of the overflowing crowd, two aged women slumped inside the premises and were rushed to a nearby hospital, where they eventually died.
The women who were of the Holy Cross Parish, Aba, were believed to have died as a result of suffocation.
Many others who slumped during the event, were rushed to a nearby private hospital.
A resident, David Onyeka, alleged he heard that aside from the recorded deaths, that over 30 people collapsed during the procession.
A senior leader of the church’s laity told newsmen that the experience is the first and that efforts were on to meet the victim’s families.
Another Catholic faithful who spoke anonymously stated that the Catholic Diocese of Aba has been having the issues of people slumping during the yearly procession but that the Sunday experience was the first time people died.
He appealed to the Catholic Diocese of Aba to find a way to decongest the population of faithful attending the “Christ The King Procession’ to avert future occurrences.
He urged that the Bishop of Aba Catholic Diocese to instruct all parishes to concentrate their procession in their own parishes without coming to the CKC where the cases of mammoth crowd are often recorded.