A woman was killed and 17 people were injured in a stampede at the University of Johannesburg's Auckland Park campus on Tuesday morning, said Johannesburg emergency services.
“One female died, 17 have been treated for minor injuries, and will be taken to hospital,” said emergency services spokeswoman Nana Radebe.
“We received a call at about 7.30am this morning. It is alleged that the stampede occurred just after they opened the gate,” she said.
A disaster bus was on the scene helping the injured, three of whom were serious, but stable.
University spokesman Herman Esterhuizen said further details would be released at a press conference at the university at 10am.
UJ registrar Marie Muller told eNews channel that the incident happened as students queued for last-minute applications to the tertiary institution.
The university received 5000 applications for new applications on Monday.
It was turning away people still outside the campus and trying to get in on Tuesday morning.
Netcare 911 spokesman Jeff Wicks said the mother of a prospective student sustained severe head and chest trauma.
“She was intubated and placed on a manual ventilator at the scene and transported by ambulance to the specialist (Charlotte Maxeke Johannesburg Academic) hospital for further care,” Wicks said.
The university bills itself as one of the “largest, multi-campus, residential universities in South Africa”.
It is a merger between the former Rand Afrikaans University, the Technikon Witwatersrand and the Soweto and the East Rand campuses of Vista University.
It has four campuses - Auckland Park Kingsway, Auckland Park Bunting Road, Doornfontein and Soweto.
It also has a four-language policy of English, isiZulu, Afrikaans and Sesotho sa Leboa.
Its students come from over 50 countries in Africa and around the world.
- Sapa
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