Seven people have been killed and dozens injured after a fire at a religious festival triggered a deadly stampede in eastern India on Monday. A crush broke out at a Hindu temple in Bihar state hours after a blaze swept through a hotel housing pilgrims in neighbouring West Bengal.
Seven people died and more than a dozen were hurt in the stampede, while the fire left at least seven dead and several others critically injured, police said. The incident in Bihar occurred near Ashok Dham Temple in Lakhisarai district as thousands of devotees gathered to offer prayers on the third Monday of Shravan, one of the holiest months in the Hindu calendar.
Stampede may have been caused by snapped wire
The period, which usually falls between July and August, is dedicated to the worship of the Hindu god Lord Shiva and is marked by fasting, prayers and colourful monsoon festivals across India. More than a dozen people were taken to a government hospital for treatment, said Shailendra Kumar, a civil official. Mr Kumar said the cause of the stampede was still under investigation.
According to preliminary reports, an electric wire snapped outside the temple premises around 6:30am, sparking panic as devotees rushed to escape what they feared was a risk of electrocution. A section of the barricades collapsed under the weight of the surging crowd, leading to a crush in which people fell over one another, said Mr Kumar, according to the Press Trust of India news agency.
Many guests at hotel that caught fire were pilgrims
In Tarapith, a temple town in West Bengal’s Birbhum district, a fire broke out around 4:30am on the ground floor of a four-storey hotel while most guests were asleep, the Press Trust of India reported. Many of the guests were pilgrims visiting Tarapith to offer prayers at a major temple complex that includes a shrine dedicated to Lord Shiva.
Firefighters brought the blaze under control and the injured were taken to hospital, where some were being treated for burn injuries while others suffered from smoke inhalation and asphyxiation, the report said. Hotel management told the news agency that the blaze may have originated near the reception area after an electrical component in the hotel’s power supply system caught fire. Authorities are investigating the incident and have not yet established the exact cause.
Crowd crushes common at Indian festivals
Crowd crushes are relatively common in India during religious festivals, as large crowds, sometimes in the millions, gather in confined areas with few safety or crowd-control measures. Last year in January, at least 30 people were killed as tens of thousands of Hindus rushed to bathe in a sacred river during the Maha Kumbh festival, the world’s largest religious gathering.
In 2013, pilgrims attending a Hindu festival at a temple in the central state of Madhya Pradesh panicked amid fears that a bridge would collapse. At least 115 people were crushed to death or drowned in the river below.
