JAKARTA, Sept 15: Twenty-one people were killed in a stampede in Indonesia on Monday as they crowded an alley to receive a cash handout for Ramazan, police said.

Another 11 people were injured in the crush as thousands packed the narrow sidestreet in Pasuruan, East Java province, to receive charity money of $3.30 each from a rich family, police and news reports said.

“Too many people came and they were afraid they wouldn’t be able to get the money so they pushed each other. That’s why the stampede occurred,” national police spokesman Abubakar Nataprawira said.

A doctor at the hospital where the dead and injured were taken said all the victims were women.

Television images of the incident showed women crying out in pain and fear as the crowd packed into a fenced area outside the family’s house, with those at the back apparently trying to push their way to the front.

Religious Affairs Minister Maftuh Basyuni told ElShinta radio that President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono had expressed his “regret” over the loss of life and had blamed the organisers of the charity handout.

“It’s an annual activity from that family but there were a lot more people lining up today than in previous years,” Pasuruan mayor Aminurrahman told ElShinta.—AFP