At least six people were crushed to death and more than 30 injured when large crowds gathered to get tickets for a festival in India’s Tirupati temple, one of the richest in the world.
The incident occurred late on Wednesday when hundreds of devotees jostled for tickets for the 10-day Vaikunta Dwara Darshanam, starting from January 10 at the Venkateshwara Temple, commonly known as the Tirupati temple, in southern Andhra Pradesh state.
The temple authorities said they set up 94 counters at three pilgrim lodges to distribute 120,000 tickets for the festival. The counters were scheduled to open on Thursday morning, but an unexpected crowd thronged the centres overnight, causing chaos.
The temple in Tirupati district is dedicated to Hindu deity Lord Vishnu and attracts millions of pilgrims every year. About 80,000 people queue each day to enter the innermost shrine, where a gold-clad deity sits under a gold-roofed dome. The temple has estimated assets worth $29 billion.
The Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams, the temple body, confirmed six deaths and said those seriously injured were being treated at hospitals. They said overcrowding was the cause of the crush.
“The reason is overcrowding … it is an unfortunate incident. A total of six people have died. As of now, one body has been identified and five are yet to be identified,” said the temple body's chairman, Bollineni Rajagopal Naidu.
Witnesses told local media that the crush happened when people rushed to ticket counters. “As soon as the police officials opened the gate, the pilgrims rushed to get the tokens. A stampede occurred due to the heavy rush,” a pilgrim told the NDTV news channel, adding that out of “twenty members of my family, six were injured”.
Tirupati Municipal commissioner N Moruya said a preliminary investigation found that about 4,000 people gathered at the ticket centre and a woman in the queue fell sick. The gates were reportedly opened to allow her to leave, but others rushed to the counter. State Chief Minister Nara Chandrababu Naidu expressed his “shock over the tragic incident”. He is expected to meet the injured and relatives of those killed on Thursday. An investigation into the incident is under way.
India has a grim record of crowd management and such accidents are common across the country, including at religious events. At least 116 people died in a crush at a religious gathering in northern India in July last year. About 224 pilgrims were killed in 2008 in a crush at a hilltop temple in western Rajasthan, marking one of the deadliest accidents in the country's history.
