Tanzania: 20 Killed In Pentecostal “Anointed Oil” Crush

The Guardian reports:

At least 20 people have been killed and more than a dozen injured in a crush during a church service at a stadium in northern Tanzania, a government official said. Hundreds of people packed a stadium on Saturday evening in Moshi town, near the slopes of Mount Kilimanjaro, and were crushed as they rushed to get anointed with “blessed oil”.

“Twenty people died and 16 others were injured in the incident,” the Moshi district commissioner, Kippi Warioba, said on Sunday. Five of those killed were children, he said. “The stampede occurred when the worshippers were rushing to get anointed with blessed oil.”

Pastor Boniface Mwamposa [photo] has been drawing huge crowds by promising prosperity and cure for disease to worshippers who walk on what he describes as “blessed oil” during his church services.