A total of 20 women waiting to get free flour in the southern Pakistani city of Karachi have been killed by a stampeding crowd, a hospital official has said.
The women were waiting to be given the flour when the crowd swelled around them and the stampede began.
The death toll from the incident could rise, according to Mohammad Amin Khan of Karachi Civil Hospital.
Footage from local television stations showed panicked relatives arriving at the hospital, while others brought limp bodies in the backs of trucks. Some women cried while laying on stretchers.
The flour giveaway was organized by a private group in honour of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.
Karachi police chief Waseem Ahmad says at least 18 died in the stampede and that the man distributing the free flour was detained because he had not given police prior notice.
