Stampede at religious event leaves 116 dead in India

• Attending Guru Bhole Baba.
• Most victims were women and children.
• More than 800 people injured.

Thousands of people attending a religious gathering in India rushed to exit an improvised tent, causing a stampede that killed at least 116 people and left dozens injured, authorities reported.

It was not immediately clear what triggered the panic after an event with a locally known Hindu guru, Bhole Baba, according to The Associated Press.

Local news reports cited authorities suggesting that the heat and suffocation in the tent might have been factors.

A video of the incident showed the structure appearing to collapse.

Stampede in India Leaves Dozens of Victims

At least 116 people died, most of them women and children, said Prashant Kumar, Director General of Police in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh, where the stampede occurred.

More than 80 people were injured and admitted to hospitals, said senior police officer Shalabh Mathur.

“People started falling over one another, one over another. Those who were crushed died. The people there pulled them out,” witness Shakuntala Devi told the Press Trust of India news agency.

Relatives were seen weeping in anguish as the bodies of the dead, placed on stretchers and covered with white sheets, lined the grounds of a local hospital.

More Than 15,000 People Present

A bus that arrived there was transporting more victims, with bodies lying in the seats inside.

Deadly stampedes are relatively common at religious festivals in India, where large crowds gather in small areas with inadequate infrastructure and few safety measures.

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Police officer Rajesh Singh said there was likely overcrowding at the event in a village in the Hathras district, about 350 kilometers (220 miles) southwest of the state capital, Lucknow.

Initial reports stated that organizers had permission to host around 5,000 people, but more than 15,000 attended the event with the Hindu preacher.

Visiting Bhole Baba

Bhole Baba was a police officer in the state before leaving his job to give religious sermons. He has conducted other similar gatherings over the past two decades.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi offered his condolences to the families of the deceased and said the federal government was working with state authorities to ensure the injured received assistance.

Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath described the stampede as «heart-wrenching» in a post on X. He said authorities were investigating.

“Look at what happened and how many people lost their lives. Will anyone be held accountable?” Rajesh Kumar Jha, a member of parliament, told reporters.

“People Will Continue to Die”

He claimed the stampede was a failure of both state and federal governments to manage large crowds, adding that «people will continue to die» if authorities do not take safety protocols seriously.

In 2013, pilgrims visiting a temple for a popular Hindu festival in the central state of Madhya Pradesh trampled each other amid fears that a bridge would collapse.

At least 115 people were crushed to death or drowned in the river, according to The Associated Press.

In 2011, over 100 Hindu devotees died in a crush at a religious festival in the southern state of Kerala.

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