Cairo: Nine people died in a stampede by families of cadets at an army recruitment centre north of Cairo on Tuesday, a military spokesman said.
Five others were also wounded in the incident that occurred at the centre in the province of Sharqia some 80km north of Cairo, Brigadier Mohammad Samir added in a statement.
“It was the result of massive jostling and overcrowding by the families at the gates of the institute, in violation of visit regulations,” he said. “The Army Forces offer deep condolences to families of the victims.”
All the victims were civilians, according to the official.
Thousands of the cadets’ relatives gathered outside the centre in the area of Al Tal Al Kabir, and several of them suffered choking in the melee amid summer heat, according to witnesses.
“I saw one cadet crying for his father, who had come to visit him, but died in the stampede,” one witness told independent online newspaper Al Youm Al Saba. The wounded were taken to a nearby military hospital, local media said.
