A crowd surge at a preferred Hindu shrine in Indian-controlled Kashmir killed no less than 12 individuals and injured 15 others on New Yr’s Day, officers mentioned.
Preliminary experiences urged an altercation between a bunch of devotees led to the crush early Saturday on the Mata Vaishnav Devi shrine, the place tens of 1000’s of Hindus gathered to pay respects within the hilly city of Katra close to southern Jammu metropolis.
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“One thing occurred close to one of many gates and I discovered myself below a crush of individuals. I suffocated and fell however by some means managed to face up,” mentioned Mahesh, who gave just one identify.
“I noticed individuals transferring over the our bodies. It was a horrifying sight, however I managed to assist in rescuing some injured individuals,” he mentioned.
Press Belief of India information company quoted police chief Dilbag Singh as saying that authorities have been fast to reply and the order inside the crowd was instantly restored.
The pilgrimage resumed after practically 4 hours, officers mentioned. An investigation was underway.
One other devotee named Priyansh mentioned he and 10 pals from New Delhi arrived Friday evening to go to the shrine. He mentioned two of his pals died within the crush.
Indian Prime Minster Narendra Modi expressed his condolences in a message on Twitter.
“Extraordinarily saddened by the lack of lives on account of a stampede,” Modi wrote.
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Pilgrims usually trek on foot to achieve the hilltop temple, which is likely one of the most visited shrines in northern India.
Lethal crowd surges are pretty frequent throughout Indian non secular festivals the place big gatherings, typically within the thousands and thousands, cowl small areas with few security or management measures.
In 2013, pilgrims visiting a temple for a preferred Hindu pageant in central Madhya Pradesh state trampled over one another amid fears {that a} bridge would collapse, and no less than 115 individuals have been crushed to dying or died within the river beneath.
Greater than 100 Hindu devotees died in a 2011 crush at a spiritual pageant within the southern state of Kerala.
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