Bihar Temple Stampede: 10 feared dead

Oct 17 (FLS): At least 10 including 4 women have reported dead after the stampede took place in temple in Bihar state of India where hundreds of thousands of Indians had gathered to celebrate annual Hindu Festival in the wee hours of Saturday night.

As per report of the sources, police have been verifying claims that 10 devotees have been killed and nearly 15 people have been injured during Navratri celebration at Durga temple in Bihar’s Banka district.

Police said the locals and rescuers have been looking for the whereabouts after some holiday makers claimed that their relatives had gone missing after a stampede at a shrine of Tildiha village.

As per report of the district magistrate of the city, Adesh Chitrmare, nearly 40,000 to 45,000 people had assembled for the prayer.

Terming it as an accident, a Banka district official said: ‘The stampede broke out after rumours spread that a portion of the temple had collapsed.’

The injured devotees have been admitted to a hospital for treatment, a police official said. The state disaster management department has announced a compensation of Rs.1 lakh each for the kin of those dead.

The district authorities have ordered an inquiry into the cause of the stampede.

Bihar’s DGP Neelman said that preliminary reports suggested that the temple under Sambhuganj police station had been offering goats to be sacrificed before the Goddess Durga.

Stampedes at public events in India are common as large numbers of people crowd into congested areas. Panic can spread quickly and, with few safety regulations in place, the result is often lethal.

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