At least eight devotees, all of them women, were killed in a crowd crush at a religious gathering in a temple in the eastern Indian state of Bihar.
Hundreds of devotees had gathered on Tuesday morning at the Sheetla temple in Nalanda district, about 1,100km east of the national capital of Delhi, when a sudden rush triggered a stampede, leaving several dead and injured.
The rush intensified in seconds, leading to a stampede-like situation, according to reports.
Visuals from the scene showed chaotic crowds inside the temple premises, as police and local villagers rushed in after being alerted and launched relief and rescue efforts.
Locals said the temple draws devotees from across the state, especially witnessing heavy footfall every Tuesday. A devotee, whose mother was trampled by the crowd, said the management failed to prevent the tragedy.
“They [temple] administration should have stopped the crowd when they saw the crowd swelling. They did not. I kept calling my mother but the crowd swept her into the temple,” she told news agency PTI.
The injured were rushed to a government hospital in Bihar Sharif.
“The barricades broke, and suddenly a stampede occurred. People are saying that there was no police there,” Eyewitness Lait Kumar told ANI news agency.
The state government has ordered an investigation into the incident and shut down the temple to restore normalcy at the site. Chief minister Nitish Kumar announced an ex gratia payment of Rs600,000 (£4,830) for each of the victims’ families.
Prime minister Narendra Modi offered his condolences to the relatives of the victims. “The mishap in Nalanda district, Bihar, is deeply painful,” he said on X.
“Prayers for the speedy recovery of those injured,” he said, adding that an ex gratia of Rs200,000 (£1,610) will given to the next of kin of each dead. The injured will receive a compensation of Rs50,000 (£402).
Stampedes in India, especially at religious places, are increasingly common.
In July last year, at least six people died and several others were injured following a stampede at the Mansa Devi temple in the northern Indian city of Haridwar.
A month before, at least three people were killed and nearly 50 injured in a stampede after a crowd went out of control at a religious gathering in the eastern Indian city of Puri.
In January, 79 Hindu pilgrims died in a stampede at the Maha Kumbh Mela in India’s Prayagraj, a toll far exceeding the official numbers, according to a local news investigation.
Pilgrims attempting to board a train to the same event at a New Delhi railway station were also caught in a stampede that killed over a dozen people.
In yet another incident in May, eleven people, including two children, who had come for a victory parade of the Indian Premier League (IPL) team Royal Challengers Bengaluru died in a stampede.
In July 2024, at least 121 people were killed during a religious gathering of the Hindu community in Uttar Pradesh.
