Post date: Oct 13, 2013 3:30:52 PM
At least 89 people are killed and more than 100 injured in a stampede after a bridge collapsed near a remote Hindu temple in central state of Madhya Pradesh.
GWALIOR, MADHYA PRADESH, INDIA (OCTOBER 13, 2013) (ANI) - A stampede at a bridge leading to a remote Hindu temple in central Indiaon Sunday (October 13) killed at least 89 people and injured more than 100, police said.
Nearly 150,000 devotees gathered to celebrate the holy festival of Dussehra at theRatangarh temple, in a forest outside the town of Datia, 390 km (240 miles) north of the Madhya Pradesh state capital, Bhopal.
But pilgrims panicked when the railings broke on a bridge that led to the temple, triggering the stampede. Some devotees were crushed to death under the feet of fellow worshippers, others drowned after falling or jumping into the river Sindh.
Dilip Arya, a deputy inspector general of police, told Reuters the death toll had shot up to 89 wit nearly 100 people injured.
The injured were rushed to Gwalior for treatment and hospitalisation.
"They have told me that more than 60 people are dead and nearly 200 people are injured," a senior medical officer at a government hospital in Gwalior, Dr. G. S. Patel, said.
"I have sent a team of 20 doctors along with 8 nurses and paramedics to the spot," he added.
Local media said the police used batons to control the crowd, prompting many people to panic.
Pilgrims have died due to stampedes on previous occasions.
In February this year, a stampede killed at least 36 Hindu pilgrims, who were part of the world's largest religious festival which attracted some 30 million people.