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.

Authorities in Nigeria say 10 people, including four children, have been killed in a stampede in the capital city as a large crowd gathered to collect food items distributed by a local church at a Christmas event.

The death toll from stampedes during two Christmas charity events in Nigeria has increased from 13 to 32, police said Sunday. 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.

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