India temple stampede in Madhya Pradesh 'kills 89'
Eyewitness Atul Chaudhary: "We saw people jumping into the river"
Some
89 pilgrims, mostly women and children, have been killed in a stampede
at a Hindu festival in central India, local officials have said.
Many were crushed after panic broke out on a bridge near the
Ratangarh temple in Madhya Pradesh state. Others died when they jumped
from the bridge.Officials said the stampede may have been sparked by a rumour that the bridge was about to collapse.
Hundreds of thousands had gathered near the town of Datia for the festival.
Local devotee Atul Chaudhary, who survived the crush, told BBC Hindi there had been a couple of thousand people on the bridge.
He heard screams, and people began rushing to get off the bridge.
Continue reading the main story
Deadly stampedes are common during India's often chaotic
religious festivals. Most of the incidents are blamed on poor
crowd-control techniques and planning by the authorities.
Indian religious festivals often attract hundreds of thousands of people, sometimes even millions as in the case of the Kumbh Mela festival in Uttar Pradesh. It's a challenge for the authorities to build tents, erect makeshift bridges, and install sanitation facilities. Often there are few first aid or medical facilities.
The Indian bureaucracy and security forces are ill-equipped and too under-staffed to manage such mega-events. Pilgrims are sometimes in a hurry to finish their prayers and get home early. On occasion, rumours of an accident or a bridge collapse have also triggered stampedes. Repeated accidents of this kind only show that no lessons have been learnt.
Analysis
Indian religious festivals often attract hundreds of thousands of people, sometimes even millions as in the case of the Kumbh Mela festival in Uttar Pradesh. It's a challenge for the authorities to build tents, erect makeshift bridges, and install sanitation facilities. Often there are few first aid or medical facilities.
The Indian bureaucracy and security forces are ill-equipped and too under-staffed to manage such mega-events. Pilgrims are sometimes in a hurry to finish their prayers and get home early. On occasion, rumours of an accident or a bridge collapse have also triggered stampedes. Repeated accidents of this kind only show that no lessons have been learnt.
"Several people could be seen flattened to the ground in the midst of the melee," he said.
"Some of the youngsters panicked and jumped into the swollen river."I and my friends were close to the exit point and along with several others ran for safety. Scores of others were not so lucky."
The narrow bridge is about 500m long, and had only recently been rebuilt following another stampede in 2007.
Madhya Pradesh health minister Narottam Mishra said 89 people were confirmed to have died.
"The cause of the stampede is a matter of judicial inquiry. Information from locals suggests that rumours of the bridge giving way could have led to the stampede," he said.
Other reports suggested that police sparked panic by using batons to control the crowd.
Officials said the dead included 42 women, 30 children and 17 men.
Emergency crews and specialist divers were still searching the river for bodies.
The accident happened at about 09:00 (03:30 GMT), but information was slow to emerge because the temple is in a remote area with erratic mobile-phone coverage.
Hindu festivals in India are notorious for deadly stampedes.
In the past year, dozens have died in three similar tragedies.
In 2011 more than 100 died at a festival in the southern state of Kerala.
Inside Jodhpur's Mehrangarh Fort, more than 220 people were killed in 2008 in a stampede at the Chamunda Devi Hindu temple.
No comments:
Post a Comment