• IP addresses are NOT logged in this forum so there's no point asking. Please note that this forum is full of homophobes, racists, lunatics, schizophrenics & absolute nut jobs with a smattering of geniuses, Chinese chauvinists, Moderate Muslims and last but not least a couple of "know-it-alls" constantly sprouting their dubious wisdom. If you believe that content generated by unsavory characters might cause you offense PLEASE LEAVE NOW! Sammyboy Admin and Staff are not responsible for your hurt feelings should you choose to read any of the content here.

    The OTHER forum is HERE so please stop asking.

At least 123 dead in India temple stampede

E

Emporer

Guest
At least 123 dead in India temple stampede
Posted: 04 August 2008 0108 hrs

SHIMLA, India - At least 123 Hindu worshippers, many of them women and children, were killed Sunday in a stampede at a religious festival in northern India, police and officials said.

The Press Trust of India news agency put the death toll from the accident at the Naina Devi temple in the hill state of Himachal Pradesh, where tens of thousands of people had gathered, at 145.

The stampede occurred after a railing at the popular shrine collapsed under the weight of devotees, sending many people falling down a narrow, steep staircase leading to the hilltop temple. A major panic and crush ensued.

Most people died of suffocation, and at least half the dead were women or children, officials said.

"One hundred and twenty-three people have died," said DS Minhas, the state's additional director general of police.

PTI said the initial stampede may have been sparked by rumours of an impending landslide on the temple hill, which was being lashed with heavy rains. The agency said 50 people had been injured.

The bodies of devotees were piled up on the road leading to the temple, located about 150 kilometres (90 miles) from the state capital Shimla, witnesses said.

Police said nearly 50,000 worshippers were expected daily during the week-long festival, which began on Saturday.

But many more had turned up on Sunday, leading to a massive rush at the pilgrimage centre in the foothills of the Himalayas.

Many of the deceased were from neighbouring Punjab and had already been taken to their home state when police arrived at the scene.

Punjab's chief minister, Parkash Singh Badal, announced the next of kin of the dead would receive 100,000 rupees (2,400 dollars) in compensation.

Television pictures showed that the temple -- where pilgrims offer prayers to the goddess Nanda Devi -- was massively overcrowded.

"A lot of people were confined in a small area," said district deputy commissioner C.P. Verma.

Temple crushes are common during festivities in India, where crowd control management is often rudimentary at best.

Six people died in a similar accident at a popular Hindu festival in July in the eastern state of Orissa, where about one million people had gathered in the town of Puri for an annual celebration.

In March, nine people were killed and many more injured at a religious gathering in central India when a railing broke at the temple premises, leading to a stampede among 100,000 devotees.
 
Top