Four killed in Kenya stampede over mistaken tear gas fear

AFP :
Four women died in a stampede in western Kenya Friday after a crowd panicked when people mistook the effect of tea spilt on a fire for tear gas, police said.

The incident in the town of Kericho happened outside a stadium where President William Ruto was due to deliver a national day speech several hours’ later.

A woman selling tea accidentally spilled it into a fire, as people waited in the early hours to enter the stadium.

“There was a stampede caused by a lady who was selling tea outside the stadium who accidentally spilled hot tea in the fire near gate C along the public road,” according to a police report, seen by AFP.

“As a result members of public panicked and mistook it to be a tear gas thrown to them.”

Several people were injured and taken to hospital, it added.