Post date: Feb 10, 2013 7:30:4 PM
An eyewitness blames the police for a stampede at a railway station where Hindu devotees were returning after attending the Kumbh religious festival; as 15 people are feared dead.
ALLAHABAD, UTTAR PRADESH, INDIA (FEBRUARY 10, 2013) (ANI) - An eyewitness blamed Indian police for a stampede that killed several Hindu pilgrims returning from a religious festival in India on Sunday (February 10).
Indian media reported at least 15 people were feared killed in the northern city of Allahabad.The stampede occurred at the city's railway station as people were returning after taking a holy dip in the River Ganges on one of the most auspicious days of the festival.
Officials say more than 30 million took a dip on the occasion.
Thousands of people were at the railway station, waiting to take a train home, when the melee occurred.
One man blamed the police.
"People were walking on the footbridge when suddenly police charged with batons. Because of that baton charge, the public panicked and the stampede happened. In that stampede these people were killed," eyewitness Amit Kumar said.
It was not clear why the police waved batons at the crowd, but Kumar blamed authorities for not acting immediately after the tragedy.
"Some 10 dead bodies are lying on the platform right now and some dead bodies have been lifted from the top of the footbridge. There is completed negligence on part of the authorities, there is no doctor, no ambulance has come till now, more than two and a half hours have now passed," Kumar said.
Once every 12 years, tens of millions of pilgrims from across India converge atAllahabad for the Maha Kumbh Mela to take a plunge in sacred Ganges river to wash away lifetimes of sins. It is said to be the largest human gathering on the planet.
Officials estimate as many as 100 million people visit the site during the two months of the event.
More than 2,000 years old, the festival is a meeting point for the Hindu holy men and monks.