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| Thursday, 27 January 2005 |
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Death toll in Indian temple stampede seen rising BOMBAY, Wednesday (Reuters) Rescue workers began at daybreak on Wednesday the grisly task of searching through debris from a stampede and fire that killed nearly 300 people at a temple in western India, and police said the toll could rise. Officials said a short circuit following the stampede may have sparked a fire in roadside stalls as 300,000 people were on an annual pilgrimage to the popular Mandher Devi temple, on a hilltop near Wai, about 260 km (160 miles) southeast of Bombay. Scores were crushed to death on the steep and narrow hill path leading to the temple and many bodies were charred, witnesses and officials said. Many women and children were among the nearly 300 people crushed or burned to death, officials said. "Police are set to go there now in the morning for an inspection in daylight and it is very likely we may find more bodies in some of the burnt shops," a police officer told Reuters. "Our initial focus is on the relief work and only after the official enquiry is completed can we say with certainty what the exact sequence of events was," he said. Witnesses said the stampede started at around midday after pilgrims slipped on the temple's steep stone steps, which were wet from coconut juice spilled from fruit presented as offerings to the local deity, Kalubai. This led to rioting by pilgrims, sparking a fire in nearby food stalls and shops selling flowers, sweets and food. "There are more than a hundred dead bodies lying around and dozens of others have already been sent down to Wai by bus," an Asian News International television reporter at the scene told Reuters late on Tuesday. "It is utter mayhem here. The sheds are still smouldering." Meanwhile grieving relatives prepared to cremate the bodies of more than 300 Hindu pilgrims, mainly women and children, who were trampled or burnt to death at a religious festival in western India. Rescue workers were still working to collect bodies and determine the exact death toll from the stampede and raging fire Tuesday that engulfed shops lining the route to the hillside temple where the devotees were making a pilgrimage. Additional Director General of Police V.N. Deshmukh said most of the 300 dead and injured were women and children who were jammed into a hill-top temple and narrow access road in the temple town of Wai in Satara district, 300 kilometres (180 miles) south of Bombay. |
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