LUCKNOW, India: A stampede among thousands of people attending a religious gathering in northern India left at least 60 people dead and dozens injured, officials said Tuesday, adding the death toll could rise.
Participants rushed to leave the makeshift tent after the event with the Hindu figure Bhole Baba, local media reported. Video footage of the aftermath showed the structure apparently collapsing, with women wailing over the dead.
Deadly riots are relatively common around Indian religious holidays, where large crowds gather in small areas with poor infrastructure and few security measures.
Police officer Rajesh Singh said overcrowding may have been a factor in the stampede in the village in Uttar Pradesh’s Hathras district, about 350 kilometres (220 miles) southwest of the state capital Lucknow.
Initial reports indicated that more than 15,000 people attended the event, with permission granted to admit around 5,000 people.
“People started falling on top of each other, on top of each other. Those who were crushed died. People pulled them out,” witness Shakuntala Devi told the Press Trust of India news agency.
The bodies were brought to hospitals and morgues in trucks and private vehicles, government official Matadin Saroj said. Government official Ashish Kumar told The Associated Press that at least 60 people had reached morgues in the district.
More than 150 people were admitted to hospitals, health official Umesh Tripathi said.
Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath called the stampede “extremely sad and heartbreaking” in a post on social media platform X. He said authorities were investigating the cause.
In 2013, pilgrims visiting the temple during a popular Hindu festival in the central state of Madhya Pradesh trampled each other in fear of the bridge collapsing, leaving at least 115 people crushed to death or drowned in the river.
In 2011, more than 100 Hindus were killed in riots during a religious festival in the southern state of Kerala.
