FILE: The aftermath of a stampede near the River Ganges in Haridwar in November 2011, in which more than a dozen people died. (STRDEL / AFP)
- A stampede broke out after a large crowd left a sermon in Hathras, India.
- Officials believe at least 50 died, but one report puts the number at 87.
- India has a grim history of stampedes at crowded religious events with poor crowd management.
At least 50 people were crushed to death at a Hindu religious gathering in northern India, with many more injured and fears the toll could rise, the government said Tuesday.
One district official said “about 50 to 60 people” were reported dead by doctors, but one local station put the toll at 87 and rising.
India has previously seen deadly incidents at places of worship during major religious festivals.
A large crowd gathered near the city of Hathras, around 140 kilometres southeast of New Delhi, on Tuesday for a sermon by a religious preacher.
“We have received 27 bodies so far,” Uttar Pradesh state senior medical officer Ram Mohan Tiwari told AFP.
“It’s very hard to say the exact figure, as bodies are still coming. We do not have the number of injured.”
Witnesses and local media reports said the victims were crushed to death as the audience left the sermon.
“When the sermon finished, everyone started running out,” Shakuntala, a woman who gave only one name, told the Press Trust of India news agency.
“People fell in a drain by the road. They started falling one on top of the other and got crushed to death.”
Local chief medical officer Umesh Kumar Tripathi told reporters that most of the dead were women.
“Many injured have also been admitted,” he said.
Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath “expressed condolences” to relatives of those killed, his office said on social media platform X.
“He has directed the district administration officials to immediately take the injured to the hospital for their proper treatment and to speed up the relief work at the spot,” it said.
Adityanath’s office also said an investigation had been ordered into the cause of the incident.
Religious gatherings in India have a grim track record due to poor crowd management and safety lapses.
At least 112 people were killed in 2016 after a huge explosion caused by a banned fireworks display at a temple marking the Hindu new year.
The blast ripped through concrete buildings and ignited a fire at a temple complex in Kerala state, where thousands had gathered.
Another 115 devotees were killed in 2013 in a stampede at a bridge near a temple in Madhya Pradesh.
Up to 400 000 people were gathered in the area and the stampede began after a rumour spread that the bridge was about to collapse.
About 224 pilgrims died and more than 400 others were injured in a 2008 stampede at a hilltop temple in the northern city of Jodhpur.
– With additional reporting by Reuters
Discussion about this post