DHAKA, Bangladesh---- Donations of clothing set off stampedes in impoverished Bangladesh on Saturday that left at least eight people dead. All were women except for one child. Affluent Muslims were giving away the clothes to the poor as part of the tradition surrounding the Islamic holy month of Ramadan.
The custom attracts large crowds who in their eagerness to grab the gifts sometimes cause stampedes. Four women and a child were killed in a crush of about 2,000 people in Mymensingh district, north of the capital Dhaka. The crowd had gathered in a narrow lane to receive cloth distributed by a textile mill, ATN Bangla reported.
Three other women died when about 1,000 people rushed a home where clothing was being distributed in Patuakhali district, south of Dhaka, the United News of Bangladesh news agency reported. Police were not immediately available for comment. Bangladesh is one of the world's poorest nations.
Nearly half the 144 million people live on less than a $1 a day.
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