Five people from the same family have died in Tanzania in a stampede that occurred at a stadium in the port city of Dar es Salaam where hundreds of people were paying their last respects to the late President John Magufuli, according to local TV.

It is unclear what triggered the stampede which occurred on Sunday evening as crowds of people jostled to view the body and pay their last respects.

“We are…grieving for the loss of our five family members who died yesterday during the stampede,” Gerald Mtuwa, a member of the family told MwanaHalisi TV, a private online television channel in Tanzania on Monday.

The dead included a mother, Susan Mtuwa, her two children, and two other related children.

Magufuli, who downplayed the threat of COVID-19 died on 17 March due to heart complications.

The late Tanzanian President is set to be buried on Friday, 26 March 2021.