Network TodayNetwork Today
    What's Hot

    In Rare Alliance, Democrats and Republicans Seek Legal Power to Clear Homeless Camps

    September 27, 2023

    Lina Khan vs. Jeff Bezos: This Is Big Tech’s Real Cage Match

    September 27, 2023

    1,000 hunger deaths recorded in Ethiopia’s Tigray region following November cease-fire

    September 27, 2023
    Facebook Twitter Instagram
    • About
    • Privacy Policy
    • Terms
    • Contact
    Facebook Twitter Instagram
    Wednesday, September 27
    Network TodayNetwork Today
    • Home
    • News
    • Politics
    • Business
    • Energy
    • Technology
    • Health
    • Lifestyle
    • Sports
    Network TodayNetwork Today
    Home » At Least 12 Die in Stampede at a Hindu Shrine in Kashmir

    At Least 12 Die in Stampede at a Hindu Shrine in Kashmir

    January 1, 20223 Mins Read News
    Facebook Twitter Pinterest LinkedIn Tumblr WhatsApp Email Reddit
    Share
    Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Pinterest Email

    SRINAGAR, Kashmir — At least 12 people were killed and more than a dozen were injured in a stampede early Saturday near the city of Jammu in the Indian-controlled portion of Kashmir, as thousands of devotees were paying obeisance at a famous Hindu shrine to mark the beginning of the new year.

    Hundreds of people were packed inside a corridor of the shrine, Mata Vaishno Devi, in the hilly town of Katra, when at about 2:30 a.m. a clash broke out outside, leading to the stampede, police officials said.

    Dilbag Singh, the top police officer of the Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir, which contains Katra, said that officers had been quick to respond to emergency calls but that the “damage was already done.”

    One of the devotees at the shrine, Bunty Singh, said he, like thousands of others, had arrived to offer prayers just after midnight, an auspicious time for many Hindus to start the first day of a year. But Mr. Singh, 45, a businessman from neighboring Punjab State, said that the roads leading to the shrine were packed and that there was hardly any space to walk.

    “A sudden commotion broke out,” he said. “Before the stampede, there was a noise for some time, as if people were fighting with each other.”

    Deadly stampedes during religious pilgrimages and festivals are common in India, where public safety measures are often flouted by temple authorities. The stampedes are often brought on by overcrowding in small areas with few exit-control measures in place. In recent years, officials across the country have been trying to improve public safety at temples and shrines, which are visited by hundreds of thousands of people each day. According to local officials, the temple authorities in Katra said they had taken the required safety measures.

    In October 2013, at least 115 people died when thousands of religious pilgrims panicked that a narrow bridge they were crossing might be collapsing. About half a million worshipers had flocked that month to a temple in the northern Madhya Pradesh State for a festival. In April 2016, a series of explosions caused by a fireworks display during a religious festival at a temple in the southern Kerala State left 106 dead and hundreds injured.

    Manoj Sinha, India’s top appointed official in the region, said he had directed officials to investigate the stampede and to look into how such episodes could be avoided in the future.

    Videos from Mata Vaishno Devi — which is tucked in a mountain about 5,200 feet above sea level and is visited each year by millions of Hindu pilgrims — showed thousands of people jostling for space near the entrance to the shrine minutes before the stampede. Later videos show ambulances rushing toward the temple and thousands of people trying to leave.

    Amit Chowdhary, a businessman from Chandigarh, the capital of Punjab, said he was among about two dozen people who fell as they saw a huge crowd trying to leave through one of the shrine’s gates.

    “When I fell, I thought the first day of this year was going to be the last day of my life,” Mr. Chowdhary said. “People were moving over the dead bodies. Somehow I managed to pull myself up and ran for my life.”

    Share. Facebook Twitter Pinterest LinkedIn Tumblr Email

    Related Posts

    In Rare Alliance, Democrats and Republicans Seek Legal Power to Clear Homeless Camps

    September 27, 2023

    1,000 hunger deaths recorded in Ethiopia’s Tigray region following November cease-fire

    September 27, 2023

    Texas special needs student who doesn’t know how to talk dropped off at wrong school

    September 27, 2023

    Greek government to address acute labor shortages as country faces surge of illegal migrants

    September 27, 2023

    Canadian Speaker in House of Commons Quits After Honoring Ukrainian Who Fought for Nazis

    September 27, 2023

    Who is Jason Billingsley, accused of killing Baltimore tech CEO Pava Marie LaPere?

    September 27, 2023
    Trending

    In Rare Alliance, Democrats and Republicans Seek Legal Power to Clear Homeless Camps

    September 27, 2023

    Lina Khan vs. Jeff Bezos: This Is Big Tech’s Real Cage Match

    September 27, 2023

    1,000 hunger deaths recorded in Ethiopia’s Tigray region following November cease-fire

    September 27, 2023

    Can One Designer Serve Two Masters?

    September 27, 2023
    Latest News

    Copper price slumps as slowdown fears hit industrial metals market

    June 23, 2022

    Putin Warns Biden of ‘Complete Rupture’ of U.S.-Russia Relationship Over Ukraine

    December 31, 2021

    House passes funding bill as Republicans decry Senate colleagues’ failure to extract concessions

    September 30, 2022

    US Defense Department tracking another balloon traveling between Hawaii and Mexico: reports

    May 1, 2023

    Help! I Reserved a Rental Car, but There Was No Car for Me.

    January 26, 2023

    Russia-backed separatists say 900 Ukrainian troops surrendered at steel plant, disputing earlier figures

    May 18, 2022

    Network Today is one of the biggest English news portal, we provide the latest news from all around the world.

    We're social. Connect with us:

    Facebook Twitter Instagram Pinterest YouTube
    Recent

    In Rare Alliance, Democrats and Republicans Seek Legal Power to Clear Homeless Camps

    September 27, 2023

    Lina Khan vs. Jeff Bezos: This Is Big Tech’s Real Cage Match

    September 27, 2023

    1,000 hunger deaths recorded in Ethiopia’s Tigray region following November cease-fire

    September 27, 2023
    Featured

    Leah McSweeney of ‘Real Housewives’ Takes a Cold Plunge

    May 26, 2022

    Ivana Trump’s family, friends react to her death

    July 15, 2022

    Ant Group Says Its Founder, Jack Ma, Will Relinquish Control

    January 7, 2023
    Copyright ©️ All rights reserved | Network Today
    • About
    • Privacy Policy
    • Terms
    • Contact

    Type above and press Enter to search. Press Esc to cancel.