DHAKA, Bangladesh — At least 25 people were killed when a stampede broke out in a crowd waiting for free clothes in northern Bangladesh on Friday, officials said.

More than 1,500 people surged toward a local businessman’s home hoping for the charity handouts in Mymensingh district, about 68 miles north of Dhaka, as the gate was opened around dawn.

A woman, left, grieves beside bodies of stampede victims at Mymensingh Medical College Hospital in Mymensingh, Bangladesh, on Friday. The Associated Press

Musammat Khudaja, grandmother of Rubi Akhtar, 12, who died in a stampede, cries at her home in the town of Mymensingh, 70 miles north of Dhaka, Bangladesh on Friday. The Associated Press

District Chief Administrator Mustakim Billah Faruqui said authorities disbursed a small amount of money for each family of the victims for burial rites.

Twenty-three of the victims were women while the rest were children, said Faruqui.

Police officer Moinul Huq said all the bodies were handed to their families. He said 50 others were undergoing treatment at Mymensingh Medical College Hospital.

Police detained the businessman, the owner of a local chewing tobacco factory, and six others for causing death by negligence, and two panels were assigned to investigate the incident, he said.

Local residents said the crowd gathered outside the businessman’s home ahead of morning prayers to collect saris handed out as zakat, a donation made ahead of the Muslim religious festival of Eid-al-Fitr.

The gate was opened at around 5 a.m. and the crowd of mostly women rushed forward, prompting the stampede, said Sanjib Kumar, a resident in Mymensingh town.

The businessman was known for his donations during Ramadan, the Muslim month of fasting, and had announced Friday’s sari handout but not the time, prompting people to gather from the early hours in anticipation.

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