Stampede at prominent Indian temple kills 6 people
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Eyewitnesses say lack of security personnel to manage crowds led to tragedy. At least six pilgrims, including five women, have been killed in a stampede in the southern Indian temple town of Tirupati. The devotees were waiting in queues to collect tokens from over 90 counters to offer prayers to Lord Venkateshwara Swamy on Wednesday when the incident took place, local police said.
The tokens for an upcoming 10-day temple festival were to be handed out from 5am local time on Thursday, but several thousand people gathered the night before at the counters so as not to miss out, the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD), which oversees the temple operations, said.
Authorities claimed the crowd became unruly and when a gate was opened to assist a woman feeling unwell, the pilgrims surged forward, leading to a stampede. At least 40 people sustained injuries as authorities reportedly took over 15 minutes to control the crowd.
“We have made arrangements to avoid any traffic problems at Tirumala in Tirupati and around 3,000 policemen have been deployed, besides 1,550 TTD personnel, for security arrangements,” TTD chair BR Naidu told The Indian Express. But eyewitnesses alleged that security measures were inadequate and police personnel responsible for monitoring the queues were nowhere to be seen, The New Indian Express reported.
Videos from the incident showed police administering CPR on the injured devotees before shifting them to ambulances. The Tirupati temple in the southern state of Andhra Pradesh is one of the most sacred shrines for Hindus. It is dedicated to the deity Venkateswara, popularly known as Balaji. The temple draws about 24 million visitors from India and abroad every year, according to the TDD.
