At least three people died and four others were injured on Monday in a stampede during a celebration in a Hindu temple located in a village in the state of Rajasthan, in northern India.
The incident occurred around 5:00 a.m. (23:30 GMT Sunday) at the Khatu Shyam Hindu temple in the Sikar district of Rajasthan when, upon opening the gates, hundreds of pilgrims began to push each other to enter the enclosuresaid a local police officer, S. Ramchandra.
The large number of people had gathered from the early hours due to “Ekadasi”or the 11th day of the lunar calendar, considered to be an auspicious day for Hindus.
All three deceased are women.and four other people who suffered minor injuries during the incident were taken to a hospital for medical attention.
for now “It is not clear what happened in the temple. Police officers are at the scene investigating the incident” and keeping the situation under control, Ramchandra said.
According to various Indian media, the stampede occurred after a woman in the crowd fainted and fell to the groundwhich caused the fall of the people who came behind her.
The head of the Government of Rajasthan, Ashok Gehlot, also confirmed the death of the women and assured that “the accident at Shri Khatu Shyam Ji Mandir will be investigated” by local authoritiesHe indicated in a message on Twitter.
Other similar tragedies
Stampedes are relatively frequent in India, especially during religious celebrationsdue to the large number of people who attend these events and the few security measures for crowd control.
At the beginning of the year at least twelve people died and 13 others were injured after a stampede in a Hindu temple in the Jammu and Kashmir region, in the north of the country.
One of the worst tragedies of this kind took place on January 25, 2005, when at least 258 people died during a Hindu pilgrimage in the western state of Maharashtra.