Four die in stampede for

Four people were killed and 30 seriously injured at a church in Accra on 19 May in a stampede by churchgoers seeking water with allegedly curative powers.

Thousands flocked to the church on Sphintex Road led by the popular but controversial Nigerian televangelist T.B. Joshua after church officials announced that "holy water" would be distributed for free to the congregation.  

Police were "caught by surprise" by the unusually large crowd, according to police spokesman Freeman Tetteh, who said an investigation has been launched into the incident.

Local media reported that some worshippers were told that the miraculous water would “bridge the poverty gap” by Joshua, a self-styled “prophet” and one of Africa’s wealthiest evangelical clerics.

The Accra church belongs to the branch of the Synagogue Church of All Nations in Lagos owned by Joshua who founded his Synagogue Church of All Nations (SCOAN) in 1989. Joshua claims to be able to perform miracles such as curing blindness and AIDS, as well as prophesising tragedies and predicting sports results.