24 dead in stampede at Timbuktu's oldest mosque

A stampede at a famed mosque in Mali's north-western desert city of Timbuktu crushed at least 24 people to death and left many more injured, officials and witnesses said on Friday. "Sixteen bodies" were taken to a Timbuktu hospital and there were "55 injured," a hospital source told AFP after the crush at the Djinguereber mosque, one of Mali's most recognisable buildings.
A police official said "at least eight other bodies have not been transported to the morgue" at the hospital and would be buried as soon as possible, according to Muslim tradition. Thousands of pilgrims come to Timbuktu for the prophet's birthday and an official said the accident appeared to have happened because of a bottleneck caused by renovation work on the 14th-century mosque, made largely from mud.
An official at Timbuktu town hall told AFP that the mosque was undergoing renovations financed by the Aga Khan, head of the world's 15 million Shia Ismaili Muslims. "Because of these renovations, the passage on the north side of the mosque is closed off," the official said.