HATHRAS, India (AP) — Severe overcrowding and a lack of outdoor space have contributed to a stampede at a religious festival In northern India, authorities said Wednesday, at least 121 people were killed as worshipers rushed to touch the preacher and chaos ensued.
Five of them died. As of Wednesday morning, local official Manish Chaudhry said, 28 people were still being treated in a hospital.
Deadly stampedes are relatively common during Indian religious festivals, where large crowds gather in small spaces with poor infrastructure and few safety measures.
About a quarter of a million people showed up at the event As of Tuesday, the camp was allowed to accommodate only 80,000 people. It is unclear how many of them managed to get into the giant tent set up in a muddy field in a village in Hathras district of Uttar Pradesh state.
It is also unclear what triggered the panic. But state Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath told reporters that a crowd rushed to touch the preacher as he was coming down from the stage, and volunteers struggled to intervene.
An initial police report suggested that thousands of people had gathered at the exits and many slipped on the muddy ground, falling and being crushed by the crowd. Most of the dead were women.
The chaos continued outside the tent, with worshipers again rushing toward the preacher, a Hindu guru known locally as Bhole Baba, as he left the tent in a car. His security personnel pushed the crowd back, causing more people to fall, authorities said.
Authorities are investigating and searching for the preacher and other organizers, whose whereabouts are unknown.
Adityanath said he had ordered an inquiry by a retired judge into Tuesday’s deaths.
Police have registered a case of manslaughter against two organisers but have ruled out the preacher. Manslaughter carries a maximum sentence of life imprisonment in India.
Binod Sokhna, who lost his mother, daughter and wife, wept as he left a morgue on Wednesday.
“My son called me and said, ‘Dad, Mom is gone. Come here immediately.’ My wife is gone,” he said, crying.
The organization of the preacher, Sri Jagat Guru Baba, had spent more than two weeks preparing for the event.
Devotees of the guru from across the state – India’s most populous with more than 200 million people – descended on the village, with rows of parked vehicles stretching for 3 kilometres (nearly 2 miles).
State official Ashish Kumar said there were insufficient emergency exits in the huge tent. It was not clear how many there were.
Experts said the event violated safety norms. “The ceremony was held in a makeshift tent without multiple exit routes,” said Sanjay Srivastava, a disaster management expert.
On Tuesday, hundreds of relatives gathered at local hospitals, weeping in distress as they saw the dead, placed on stretchers and covered with white sheets on the ground. Buses and trucks also transported dozens of victims to morgues.
Sonu Kumar was one of many locals who helped lift and move bodies after the disaster. He criticised the preacher: “He sat in his car and drove away. And his followers here threw themselves on each other.”
“The screams were heartbreaking. We had never seen anything like this before in our village,” Kumar added.
In 2013, pilgrims heading to a temple for a Hindu festival in central Madhya Pradesh state trampled on each other for fear of a bridge collapsing. At least 115 people were crushed or died in the river.
In 2011, more than 100 people died in a stampede during a religious festival in the southern state of Kerala.
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Banerjee reported from Lucknow, India. Associated Press writer Krutika Pathi contributed from New Delhi.
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Associated Press religion coverage receives support from AP’s collaboration with The Conversation U.S., with funding from the Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content.
