A woman in Zimbabwe had her leg broken in a crush of people desperate to buy scarce sugar following a delivery in the eastern town of Marondera, reports said on Monday.
A queue about 800m long built up on Saturday outside a supermarket where 30 tonnes of sugar had just been delivered, said the state-controlled Herald newspaper.
But pandemonium broke out as people jostled in the queue, resulting in a wall collapsing and part of a security fence being flattened.
Riot police with dogs had to be called in to control the crowd, the paper said.
Sugar, like most basics including cooking oil, flour and maize meal have disappeared from shop shelves in recent weeks following the governments blitz on high prices.
Retailers were late last month ordered to sell sugar for about Z$30 000 per 2kg packet, resulting in chronic shortages in supermarkets.
Sugar is now readily available on the black market for at least five times the official price.
Some residents in Marondera on Saturday said the situation was made worse by abuses by the police, who themselves bought sugar ahead of people already in the queue. — Sapa-dpa