At least 20 people died in a stampede at a church service in northern Tanzania on Saturday night, a government official said on Sunday.
Hundreds of worshipers were attending a prayer service in a stadium at Moshi near the slopes of Mt. Kilimanjaro when the tragedy happened, the official added.
Bonface Mwamposa, a popular preacher with Shine Ministry, was leading the prayer service when the tragedy occurred.
Dozens of people rushed to the front to touch the oil poured on the floor by the preacher to get "cured" when the tragedy happened, witnesses said.
"Twenty people died and 16 others were injured in the incident," Moshi district commissioner Kippi Warioba told Reuters by telephone.
Five of those killed were children, he said.
"The stampede occurred when the worshippers were rushing to get anointed with blessed oil," Warioba said.
Mwamposa, a self-proclaimed 'Apostle", has been drawing huge crowds by promising to cure of diseases and prosperity, Reuters reported.
Worshipers who walk on what he describes as "blessed oil" allegedly get healed, witnesses said on Sunday.
But Authorities fear the death toll could rise due to the size of the crowd and dark conditions when the stampede occurred.
"The incident took place at night and there were many people, so there is a possibility that more casualties could emerge. We are still assessing the situation," Warioba said.
Emergency service teams have been dispatched to the site to help in search and rescue mission as authorities investigate the incident, he added.
This is the second tragedy in Tanzania within a span of one year.
Last year, hundreds of people drowned at Ukerewe Island when a ferry capsized.