By Stefan J. Bos, Chief International Correspondent Worthy News
NEW DELHI (Worthy News) – Authorities of India’s northern state, Uttar Pradesh, say at least 116 people, many of them women and children, were killed in a stampede at a religious Hindu event.
Tuesday’s tragedy happened in a village in Hathras district, about 200 kilometers (125 miles) southeast of India’s capital, New Delhi, officials said.
Investigators initially said those killed included 25 women and two men, but as the day progressed, the death toll kept climbing. Many more were believed to have been injured.
The stampede came as a shock for India, the world’s largest Hindu nation, where Christians and other minority groups have been forced in some areas to ‘convert’ to Hinduism.
Most of the confirmed dead were women and children who appeared to have suffocated in the crush in the Hathras district, confirmed Ashish Kumar, the district magistrate.
“As of now, the confirmed death toll is 116 people,” explained Chaitra V., a top civil servant in the Aligarh administrative region, which includes Hathras.
Witnesses suggested that the stampede began when a fierce dust storm sparked panic among the thousands who gathered for a sermon by a Hindu preacher.
HEAT AND OVERCROWDING
Officials said heat and overcrowding played a role in the incident as temperatures in Hathras soared towards 100 degrees Fahrenheit (38 degrees Celsius) with very high humidity.
Eyewitnesses, speaking to local media, recalled that some victims had fallen into a drainage ditch on top of one another.
Police vowed action against anyone responsible as the gathering “may have been larger” than permitted.
“Lapses by authorities will also be investigated, and action will be taken based on the report, which will be available within 24 hours,” state police chief Prashant Kumar told media.
Kumar did not yet say whether corruption had played a role in why more than 15,000 people had gathered for the event, which had permission for about 5,000.
However, watchdog Transparency International says, “Corruption remains an endemic problem” in India, “affecting all levels of governance” and other areas of society, which is the world’s most populous nation with over 1.4 billion people.
State Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath ordered an investigation into the incident.
“Instructions have been given to the concerned officials to conduct relief and rescue operations on a war footing and to provide proper treatment to the injured,” he wrote on X.
COMPENSATION OFFERED
Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced a compensation of $2,400 to the next of kin of those who died and $600 to those injured in the “tragic incident.”
“My condolences are with those who have lost their loved ones. … I wish for the speedy recovery of all the injured,” Modi wrote on the social media platform X, previously known as Twitter.
Indian President Droupadi Murmu said the deaths were “heart-rending” and offered her “deepest condolences.”
Yet her words did little to take away the tears of people gathering outside one mortuary in the town of Etah, where many of the dead were taken.
One survivor, Jyoti, who uses her first name, told reporters the stampede happened quickly after the event ended. “Everyone was in a rush to leave. … There was no way out, and people were falling on each other,” she remembered.
“When the sermon finished, everyone started running out,” Shakuntala, another woman who gave only one name, told the Press Trust of India news agency.
People were also seen crying outside the local hospital.
MORE TRAGEDIES
The latest tragedy follows a series of deadly accidents in India during major religious festivals when large crowds gather in small areas with few safety measures.
At least 112 people were killed in 2016 in an explosion caused by a banned fireworks display at a temple to mark the Hindu New Year.
The explosion ripped through concrete buildings and ignited a fire at a temple complex in Kerala state, where thousands had gathered.
Another 115 devotees died in 2013 in a stampede at a bridge near a temple in Madhya Pradesh state in central India.
Up to 400,000 people were believed to have been gathered in the area. According to investigators, the stampede occurred “after a rumor spread“ that the bridge would collapse.
Elsewhere, at least 224 pilgrims died, and more than 400 were injured in a 2008 stampede at a hilltop temple in the northern city of Jodhpur in India’s Rajasthan state.
Tuesday’s tragedy was expected to add to an ongoing debate about improving safety at mass Hindu events in India.
Copyright 1999-2024 Worthy News. This article was originally published on Worthy News and was reproduced with permission.
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