DAMASCUS: Four people were killed and 16 others injured in a stampede in the landmark Umayyad Mosque in Damascus on Friday.

Five children suffered fractures, severe bruises and fainting, the civil defence said in a statement.

Authorities were trying to determine the causes of the incident and will hold those responsible accountable, Damascus Governor Maher Marwan said.

“We are working to take urgent measures to ensure that such incidents are not repeated in public places in the future,” Sana news agency quoted him as saying.

A photographer who was at the site of the stampede saw large crowds gathered near the mosque because free meals were being handed out.

Ghina, who was at the mosque to attend Friday prayers, said she saw “people carrying an elderly woman with blood dripping from her face”, adding that she appeared dead.

The Al Watan newspaper said the stampede happened during the distribution of free meals by a social media personality.

Published in Dawn, January 11th, 2025