A deadly stampede in Uttar Pradesh, India, on Wednesday resulted in 121 deaths at a massively overcrowded Hindu religious gathering.
This incident marks the deadliest stampede in India in over ten years.
A police report revealed that over 250,000 people attended the event, far exceeding the 80,000 people that the organizers had permission for. Discarded clothing and lost shoes were scattered across the muddy site, an open field next to a highway, on Wednesday morning.
“Everyone—the entire crowd, including women and children—left from the event site at once,” said police officer Sheela Maurya, 50, who had been on duty during the popular Hindu preacher’s sermon. “There wasn’t enough space, and everyone just fell on top of each other.”
Almost all of the victims were women, along with seven children and one man. Witnesses described people falling on top of each other as they tumbled down a slope into a water-logged ditch.
Officials suggested the stampede was triggered when worshippers tried to gather soil from the preacher’s footsteps. Others blamed a dust storm for sparking panic. Some fainted from the force of the crowd, falling and being trampled upon, unable to move.
Maurya, who had been on duty since early Tuesday morning in the sweltering heat, was among the injured. “I tried to help some women, but even I fainted and was crushed under the crowd,” she told AFP. “I don’t know, but someone pulled me out, and I don’t remember much.”
Chaitra V., divisional commissioner of Aligarh city, initially said panic began when “attendees were exiting the venue when a dust storm blinded their vision, leading to a melee.” However, Uttar Pradesh Chief Secretary Manoj Kumar Singh said, “I am told that people rushed to touch his feet and tried to collect soil, and a stampede took place. Many people fell in a nearby drain.”
At dawn on Wednesday, four unidentified bodies lay in a makeshift morgue at a hospital in Hathras. Ram Nivas, 35, a farmer, was searching for his sister-in-law, Rumla, 54, who was missing after the crush. “We haven’t been able to find her anywhere,” Nivas said, hoping she was still alive.
In the hospital’s emergency ward, Sandeep Kumar, 29, sat next to his injured sister, Shikha Kumar, 22. “After the event ended, everyone wanted to exit quickly, and that is what led to the stampede,” Sandeep said. “She saw people fainting, getting crushed.”
Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced compensation of $2,400 to the next of kin of those who died and $600 to those injured in the “tragic incident.” President Droupadi Murmu called the deaths “heart-rending” and offered her “deepest condolences.”
Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, also a Hindu monk, expressed his condolences and ordered an investigation into the deaths.
Religious gatherings in India have a history of deadly incidents caused by poor crowd management and safety lapses. In 2008, 224 pilgrims were killed and more than 400 were injured in a stampede at a hilltop temple in Jodhpur.
