A stampede during a religious gathering in the Hathras district of Uttar Pradesh claimed the lives of about 116 people and left several others injured. The incident took place early on Tuesday evening when a large crowd gathered in a village to hear a sermon by the renowned preacher Narayan Saakar Hari who is popularly known as ‘Bhole Baba’.
“The attendees were exiting the venue when a dust storm blinded their vision, leading to a melee and the subsequent tragic incident,” explained Chaitra V., divisional commissioner of Aligarh city in Uttar Pradesh state, in a statement to AFP. However, an eyewitness attributed the stampede to a rush among Bhole Baba’s followers to collect “raj” (dust) over which the preacher’s vehicle had passed as he departed the venue.
The situation resulted in many individuals getting crushed or trampled, while several were reported to have fallen into a roadside drain. The authorities reported that the emergency services were quick to respond as ambulances were deported to the scene of the accident to aid the injured and transport them to nearby hospitals. Reports claimed that several distraught relatives had gathered outside a mortuary in the town of Etah, where many of the deceased were taken.
Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath expressed his condolences to the families of the victims and directed district officials to ensure the injured receive prompt medical attention and to expedite relief efforts at the site. “Our hearts go out to the families affected by this tragic incident,” Adityanath said in a public statement.
Stampedes at religious gatherings have become increasingly common in India, due to poor crowd management and lapses in the security measurements employed by the authority. Data from the previous records shed light on the frequency and severity of such incidents. In the incident that took place in the year 2016, 112 people were killed when a banned fireworks display resulted in a massive explosion at a temple in Kerala. Similarly, in 2013, a stampede at a bridge near a temple in Madhya Pradesh resulted in 115 deaths, while in 2008, 224 pilgrims were killed, and over 400 were injured in a stampede at a hilltop temple in Jodhpur.
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Notable past incidents of stampedes in India include:
January 2005: Over 340 devotees were trampled to death, and hundreds injured during an annual pilgrimage at Mandhardevi temple in Maharashtra’s Satara district, caused by slippery steps leading up to the temple.
August 2008: Approximately 145 Hindu pilgrims died after rumors of a landslide triggered a stampede at the mountaintop Naina Devi temple in Himachal Pradesh.
September 2008: A total of 224 people were trampled to death at the Chamunda Devi temple in Rajasthan during the Navratri festival, triggered by rumors of a bomb going off at the temple in Jodhpur city.
March 2010: At least 63 people, more than half of them children, were killed in a stampede triggered by a massive rush for free food and clothes from a self-styled godman at a Hindu temple in Uttar Pradesh.
January 2011: At least 104 Sabarimala devotees were killed, and over 40 were injured in a stampede when a jeep crashed into homebound pilgrims at Pulmedu in Kerala’s Idukki district.
November 2011: At least 20 people were killed in a stampede in Haridwar at Har-ki-Pauri ghat on the banks of the Ganga river.
February 2013: At least 36 Hindu pilgrims were killed in a stampede on the busiest day of the Kumbh Mela, a massive gathering in Uttar Pradesh where more than 100 million pilgrims gather over two months.
November 2013: Around 115 people were killed, and more than a hundred were injured after a stampede at the Ratangarh temple in Madhya Pradesh during the Navratri celebrations.
January 2022: At least 12 people died, and more were injured in a stampede at the Vaishno Devi shrine in Jammu and Kashmir after a huge crowd of devotees tried to enter the narrow shrine.
