Nineteen dead, 25 hurt in stampede at gathering in India

At least 19 people were killed and two dozen more injured on Saturday in eastern India after a stampede that occurred during sudden rainfall at a Hindu religious gathering, officials and Indian media said.

West Bengal Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari told reporters the fatalities included a seven-year-old girl, adding that 25 other people were injured outside a pavilion “in a stampede” at the Hindu festival of Durga Puja in Kolkata.

“Six bodies have so far been identified,” Adhikari said.

Medical workers move an injured police officer on a stretcher in front of the emergency building at Medical College Kolkata on Saturday, following a stampede at a religious event.

Photo: AFP

A senior police official at the scene said an announcement caused “commotion” after it started raining at night and the “crowd waiting outside the pandal [pavilion] was pushing, pulling and rushing forward and fell on the ground, leading to the stampede.”

Afterward medics were seen moving injured people on stretchers, including a police officer, into a local hospital. Several relatives of victims cried and held one another as they mourned the loss of loved ones.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi addressed the tragedy in a short statement on Facebook.

“The stampede in Kolkata is saddening. Condolences to the bereaved families. Wishing the injured a speedy recovery,” he wrote. “The West Bengal Government is providing all possible help to the affected families.”

Adhikari originally announced 17 fatalities. The Press Trust of India (PTI) reported the death toll rose by two to 19, quoting Adhikari in a later statement. Nine dead bodies have been released to their families, the news agency said.

Police have taken the closed circuit footage of the festival and authorities would initiate action against those seen on it who appeared to fail in their responsibility for crowd control, PTI reported.

Videos shot before the stampede appeared to show large crowds of people waiting to enter the pavilion, in an area with narrow lanes that allow only a few people to walk in at a time, the Indian Express reported.

In a separate incident, a speeding truck killed 13 people when it ploughed into a crowd at a different Hindu festival, officials said yesterday, with Indian President Droupadi Murmu describing the deaths as “heartbreaking.”

The heavily loaded truck reportedly lost control in early yesterday and hit devotees gathered at a temple in Gwalior, in the central state of Madhya Pradesh.

PTI cited hospital officials as saying 13 people had died.

“I express my deepest condolences to the bereaved families and pray for the swift recovery of those injured,” Murmu wrote on social media.