Stampedes during three Christmas charity events across Nigeria have left at least 67 people dead in the past week, many of them children.

At least 32 people were killed in crowd crushes at two separate charity events in Nigeria on Saturday, police have reported.

In the third such incident this week, at least 22 people were killed in a rush for free food at a charity event.

Nigerian police say the death toll from stampedes during two Christmas charity events has increased from 13 to 32.

The death toll from a crush in Okija in the southeastern state of Anambra had risen to 22 from a previously reported 13.

In 2022, a stampede at a church charity event in southern Nigeria left 31 people dead and seven injured, police told The Associated Press, a shocking development at a program that aimed to offer hope to the needy. One witness said the dead included a pregnant woman and many children.

The victims, including at least four children, collapsed during crowd surges as people grew desperate for food items while the country grapples with the worst cost-of-living crisis in a generation.