THE DEATH toll from stampedes during two Christmas charity events in Nigeria has increased from 13 to 32, police said today.

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

The dead included 22 people in south-eastern Anambra state’s Okija town, where a philanthropist on Saturday organised a food distribution, local police spokesman Tochukwu Ikenga said.