The Jakarta Globe, Jul 29, 2014
Jakarta. An 11-year-old child was trampled to death and six people were injured in a stampede at the house of Vice President-elect Jusuf Kalla in Makassar, where thousands had reportedly flocked to receive a box of food and Rp 50,000 ($4.35) worth of Idul Fitri alms on Tuesday afternoon, according to media reports.
The distribution of lunch and alms is said to be part of Kalla’s open house reception, an Idul Fitri tradition in which people would open their doors to receive friends, relatives and the general public.
A similar open house event was also held in Jakarta by President-elect Joko Widodo at City Hall as well as by outgoing President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono at the State Palace on Monday, although no distribution of money were reported to have taken place.
“Dika [Hadika] was trampled in a stampede with queuing,” Hawiah, the victim’s relative said, was quoted as saying by state-run Antara news agency.
Hadika, a sixth grader, was rushed to the hospital Stella Maris Hospital but did not survive the trip.
In a report by news portal Tempo.co, the victim’s mother, Nahu, 38, said she had gone to the event to accompany her child.
“Dika had asked me to stay home and offered to go get the money instead, but I was afraid because he was still very small, so I went to accompany him,” Nahu said.
Kalla’s sister Fatimah Kalla and his son Solihin Kalla, along with Makassar Mayor Ramdanny Pomanto, had reportedly visited the victim’s family and handed financial aid for the boy’s parents.
“On behalf of Jusuf Kalla’s family and the Makassar city administration, I offer my condolences for this incident. We did not see this coming, because there was a huge group of people, and it was difficult to organize [them],” Danny said, as quoted by Tempo.co.
Makassar Police chief Sr. Comr. Ferry Abraham estimated the crowd at Kalla’s house at more than 5,000 people, guarded by only 200 police officials.
“The amount of people made it hard to breathe, and the overcrowding eventually led to a casualty,” Ferry said in the same report.
Aside from the Hadika, six other residents — who were also part of the crowd — were injured, and they were also rushed to Stella Maris hospital.
Residents lamented the poorly organized charity event, saying that organizers should not have held the distribution of alms in one line.
“There were too many people, and only one place to hand out the money. There should have been 10 places,” one resident told Antara.
Another resident named Jauhari said he had started lining up at 7 a.m. but was only able to get into the house at 10:30 a.m., but did not get to meet Kalla.
“I wanted to meet him, but it was crowded inside. I was also trampled and failed to meet Pak Jusuf [Kalla],” Jauhari said, as quoted by news portal Liputan6.com.
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wo 30 jul 2014 - 1:18