Two women have died on Monday in a stampede while struggling alongside others, for COVID-19 palliatives in a warehouse on the Secretariat road in Gwagwalada Area Council, Abuja.

 Reports indicate that many people were stabbed, some sustained varying degrees of injury and some also fainted in the commotion.

 The palliatives hoarded at the warehouse include; rice, salt, noodles, spaghetti and sugar, as well as other condiments.

Sources said that attempts were made to revive those who fainted while the corpses of the deceased women were taken away by some residents.

A mob had reportedly besieged the warehouse around 8:00am to ‘collect’ their own share of the food items without attempt to maintain any queues or have security personnel around.

An eyewitness, simply identified as Uhiene, said the process was smooth until around midday when it was disrupted by some impatient persons.

Another eyewitness, who preferred anonymity, said: “Getting into the warehouse was very tough and hard. I suffered some bruises, but glory be to God, I made it; because, it was not an easy feat.

“Some are dying in there, others are suffocating, sweating…. There was a woman of 21-years-old that died inside. Another woman also died.

“I saw them myself. They were stepped upon when they fell down (in the stampede). The women couldn’t stand up. They were were trampled upon and killed.”

Meanwhile, the FCT Minister, Malam Mohammed Musa Bello, has ordered the arrest and prosecution of the people who broke the warehouse where CACOVID palliatives were being stored in Gwagwalada.