A sudden crowd crush occurred on Thursday during a famous Hindu festival in Odisha state, eastern India, resulting in at least one death and many people being hospitalized.
The tragic incident took place in the coastal city of Puri as tens of thousands gathered for the Ratha Yatra, the annual chariot festival.
This festival is one of the world's oldest and largest religious processions, featuring the ceremonial parade of Hindu deities' idols from the Jagannath Temple on elaborately decorated chariots along the streets.
Video footage from the scene showed devotees jostling and pushing, causing chaos; some fainted and fell, then were trampled. Ambulances rushed into the area to evacuate the injured to hospitals, while shoes, bags, and personal belongings were scattered everywhere after the incident.
Odisha police posted on social media that rescue teams administered first aid and oxygen to 33 affected individuals before transporting them to nearby hospitals.
A similar crowd crush happened last year at the same festival, resulting in three deaths and more than ten people hospitalized due to overcrowding.
Stampedes during religious festivals in India occur frequently because massive crowds, sometimes numbering in the millions, gather in confined spaces where safety measures and crowd control are insufficient.
In January last year, at least 30 people died when tens of thousands of Hindus gathered to bathe in a sacred river during the Kumbh Mela festival.
In 2013, pilgrims at a Hindu festival at a temple in Madhya Pradesh panicked fearing a bridge collapse, leading to at least 115 deaths by trampling or drowning in the river below.
/source:AP
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