New Delhi — At least 77 people were killed Tuesday in a stampede at a religious gathering in the central Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, authorities said. Multiple Indian news reports said the death toll could be more than 100, with most of the victims reportedly women, as authorities scrambled to tally the number of victims at several hospitals in the region.
The stampede took place during a “satsang”, a prayer meeting organised by a Hindu guru, in the village of Rati Bhanpur in the state’s Hathras district. Thousands of the guru’s devotees turned up to listen to his talk, crowding under tents to avoid the blazing sun before panic broke out and people started running.
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Hathras district magistrate Ashish Kumar said the local health centre had confirmed between 50 and 60 deaths among residents of the district alone. Officials in neighbouring Etah district confirmed the deaths of another 27 people.
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“We have received 27 bodies, of which 25 are female and two are male. Some of the injured have also been taken to hospitals,” Dr Umesh Kumar Tripathi, Chief Medical Officer of Etah Hospital, told reporters.
Etah Superintendent of Police Rajesh Kumar said three children were killed in the panic.
It is not immediately clear what caused the panic, but eyewitnesses told local media that the panic started when the event ended and people quickly left the location.
Videos were shared widely on social media showing dozens of bodies, mostly women, being taken to regional hospitals.
Uttar Pradesh state’s top official, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, ordered an inquiry into the incident. Residents expressed anger, alleging that no proper arrangements had been made for the large gathering, which took place amid hot and humid conditions.
According to senior police official Shalabh Mathur, a “temporary permission” had been granted for the religious event organised by the local guru, a Hindu preacher known as Bhole Baba.
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Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said the Uttar Pradesh state government was providing all possible assistance to the victims.
Opposition party leader Pawan Khera of the Congress party accused the state government, run by Modi’s Bhartiya Janata Party, of being unprepared for the event. He said hospitals where the injured were sent did not have enough doctors or facilities to treat them.
Stampedes at religious events are not uncommon in India as the gatherings are usually held in private and often lack adequate security or crowd control measures.
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 the Chamunda Devi temple in Rajasthan state in 2008. That 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.
