New Delhi At least 77 people were killed in a stampede at a religious gathering in the central Indian state of Uttar Pradesh on Tuesday, authorities said. Multiple news reports in India said the death toll could exceed 100, with most of the victims believed to be women, as authorities scrambled to collate the number of victims at different hospitals in the region.
The stampede occurred during a 'satsang', a prayer meeting organized by a Hindu guru, in Rati Bhanpur village in the state's Hathras area. Thousands of the guru's devotees turned up to hear his address, huddling under tents to avoid the harsh sun, before panic set in and people began to run.
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Hathras District Magistrate Ashish Kumar said the local community health center had confirmed 50-60 deaths among district residents alone. Officials in the neighboring district of Etah confirmed the death of another 27 people.
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“We have received 27 bodies, out of which 25 are women and two are men. Some injured have also been shifted to hospitals,” Etah Hospital Medical Director Dr Umesh Kumar Tripathi told reporters.
Etah Senior Superintendent of Police Rajesh Kumar said three children were among those killed in the stampede.
It was not immediately known what caused the panic, but some witnesses told local media that the stampede started when the event ended and people rushed to leave the venue.
Videos shared widely on social media showed dozens of bodies, mostly women, being taken to regional hospitals.
Uttar Pradesh state's top official, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, ordered an inquiry into the incident as residents began expressing anger and allegations that adequate arrangements had not been made for the big meeting, which was held in hot and humid conditions.
Senior police officer Shalabh Mathur said a “temporary permit” had been granted for the religious event organized by the local guru, a Hindu preacher who goes by the name Bhole Baba.
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Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said the Uttar Pradesh state government is providing all possible assistance to the victims.
Opposition Congress party leader Pawan Khera accused the state government, led by Modi's Bhartiya Janata Party, of being unprepared for the event. He said the hospitals where the injured were sent did not have enough doctors or facilities to treat them.
Stampedes at religious events in India are not uncommon, as gatherings are mostly run privately and often without adequate security or crowd control measures.
One of India's deadliest stampedes at a religious event was in 2005, when more than 340 people died at the Mandhardevi temple in the western state of Maharashtra. More than 250 people were killed in another stampede at the Chamunda Devi temple in Rajasthan state in 2008. The same year, more than 160 people were killed in a stampede at a religious gathering at the Naina Devi temple in the state northern Himachal Pradesh.
