Stampede at religious gathering in India leaves at least 77 people dead

New Delhi — At least 77 people were killed in a stampede at a religious gathering in central India’s Uttar Pradesh state Tuesday, authorities said. Multiple Indian news reports said the death toll could be over 100, with most of the victims reportedly women, as authorities raced to collate the number of casualties at different hospitals in the region.

The stampede occurred during a “satsang,” a prayer meeting hosted by a Hindu guru, in the village of Rati Bhanpur in the state’s Hathras area. Thousands of the guru’s devotees showed up to listen to his address, crowding under tents to avoid the harsh sun, before there was a panic and people started running.

NOTE: This article includes images of death that some readers may find disturbing.  

Hathras District Magistrate Ashish Kumar said the local community health center had confirmed between 50 and 60 deaths among residents of the district alone. Officials in the neighboring Etah district confirmed the deaths of an additional 27 people.

“We have received 27 bodies, of which 25 are female and two are male. Some injured have also been taken to hospitals,” Dr. Umesh Kumar Tripathi, Chief Medical Officer at Etah Hospital, told reporters.

Etah’s Senior Superintendent of Police, Rajesh Kumar, said three children were among those killed in the stampede.

It was not immediately clear what caused the panic, but some eyewitnesses told local media outlets that the stampede started when the event ended and people rushed to leave the venue.

Videos shared widely on social media showed dozens of bodies, mostly women, being brought to regional hospitals.

The top official in Uttar Pradesh state, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, ordered an investigation into the incident as residents started voicing anger and allegations that proper arrangements had not been made for the large gathering, which was held amid hot and humid conditions.

Senior police officer Shalabh Mathur said a “temporary permission” had been provided for the religious event hosted by the local guru, a Hindu preacher who goes by the name Bhole Baba.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said the Uttar Pradesh state government was providing all possible help to the victims.

Opposition Congress party leader Pawan Khera accused the state government, which is run by Modi’s Bhartiya Janata Party, of being unprepared for the event. He said the hospitals where the injured were sent didn’t have enough doctors or facilities to treat them.

Stampedes at religious events in India are not uncommon, as the gatherings are mostly managed privately, and often without adequate safety or crowd control measures put in place. 

One of India’s deadliest stampedes at a religious event was in 2005, when more than 340 people died at the Mandhardevi temple in the western state of Maharashtra. More than 250 people died in another stampede at Rajasthan state’s Chamunda Devi temple in 2008. In the same year, more than 160 people died in a stampede at a religious gathering at the Naina Devi temple in the northern state of Himachal Pradesh.