At least 50 people were killed and dozens injured in a stampede during a religious event in the northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh that drew thousands of worshippers.
Ashish Kumar, the district judge of Hathras, the city where the incident occurred, told reporters at the scene that most of the dead so far were women and children, who were apparently suffocated by the crowds trying to leave the venue. Local officials said the heat and overcrowding led to panic.
“This happened towards the end of the gathering, when the congregation was leaving, because the humidity was very high,” said Kumar.
Umesh Kumar Tripathi, medical director of Etah district in western Uttar Pradesh, said more victims were being shifted to other hospitals.
“The death toll could rise,” Tripathi said.
“The administration is involved in relief and rescue operations,” Prime Minister Narendra Modi said while addressing the Indian parliament when news of the incident broke.
“I am here to assure everyone that the victims will be helped in every way possible,” he said.
Not verified video Social media showed images of dozens of bodies, mostly women, strewn across the courtyard of what appeared to be a government building.
The event was a large Hindu prayer gathering, organized by a guru known locally as Bhole Baba, who has been leading such gatherings for more than 20 years. The commotion broke out towards the end of the gathering.
Rajesh Singh, Hathras police chief, said the permit for the event allowed 5,000 people. But he said in a telephone interview that initial information from the scene suggested the crowd was much larger. He said more than 150 people were admitted to different hospitals.
In India, deadly riots that result in mass casualties during religious pilgrimages are common because of the lack of enforcement of public safety measures. In recent years, authorities have deployed more police officers and used drones to increase surveillance of large religious gatherings.
“Neither the state government nor the federal government has developed a sensitive approach to crowd management. As a country, we are good at attracting crowds but not good at managing them,” said Manoj Kumar Jha, a member of the Indian National Congress. “Every year these kinds of incidents happen again and again, but we do not learn anything.”
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