Religious festival stampede kills at least 39 in India

THE collapse of a barricade set off a stampede of thousands of people at a Hindu religious festival in western India yesterday, killing at least 39 people, mostly women, and injuring 125 others.

The incident occurred as more than a million Hindu devotees assembled for a religious bathing festival in the Godavari River outside the town of Nasik, 110 miles north-east of Bombay.

Nasik Mayor Dashrath Patil said 39 people had been killed and at least 125 injured. Twenty-six of those killed were women, officials said, and two of the injured were police officers.

Ambulances rushed to the area as rescue workers urged the crowd to give way so the injured could be taken to hospitals. Cars and police vehicles were also used to take in the dozens of injured people.

“There were some 50,000 people behind one barricade and they were pushing. The barricade suddenly broke and they just fell down,” said Chhagan Bhujbal, deputy chief minister of Maharashtra state.

“People at the back just began walking on them and that’s how the stampede happened,” said Mr Bhujbal. “It was a tragic accident.”

Survivors, many of them standing around in shock, said the collapse of the barricade set off a panic among falling, screaming pilgrims.

Officials said the barricade, which was holding back a large group of people waiting to get to the river, collapsed as they impatiently pushed against it.