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

SRINAGAR, Kashmir — At the very least 12 individuals had been killed and greater than a dozen had been injured in a stampede early Saturday close to the town of Jammu within the Indian-controlled portion of Kashmir, as 1000’s of devotees had been paying obeisance at a well-known Hindu shrine to mark the start of the brand new 12 months.

Lots of of individuals had been packed inside a hall of the shrine, Mata Vaishno Devi, within the hilly city of Katra, when at about 2:30 a.m. a conflict broke out exterior, resulting in the stampede, police officers mentioned.

Dilbag Singh, the highest police officer of the Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir, which incorporates Katra, mentioned that officers had been fast to answer emergency calls however that the “harm was already executed.”

One of many devotees on the shrine, Bunty Singh, mentioned he, like 1000’s of others, had arrived to supply prayers simply after midnight, an auspicious time for a lot of Hindus to begin the primary day of a 12 months. However Mr. Singh, 45, a businessman from neighboring Punjab State, mentioned that the roads resulting in the shrine had been packed and that there was hardly any area to stroll.

“A sudden commotion broke out,” he mentioned. “Earlier than the stampede, there was a noise for a while, as if individuals had been preventing with one another.”

Lethal stampedes throughout spiritual pilgrimages and festivals are widespread in India, the place public security measures are sometimes flouted by temple authorities. The stampedes are sometimes introduced on by overcrowding in small areas with few exit-control measures in place. Lately, officers throughout the nation have been making an attempt to enhance public security at temples and shrines, that are visited by a whole bunch of 1000’s of individuals every day. In response to native officers, the temple authorities in Katra mentioned that they had taken the required security measures.

In October 2013, at the least 115 individuals died when 1000’s of spiritual pilgrims panicked {that a} slim bridge they had been crossing may be collapsing. About half one million worshipers had flocked that month to a temple within the northern Madhya Pradesh State for a pageant. In April 2016, a collection of explosions brought on by a fireworks show throughout a non secular pageant at a temple within the southern Kerala State left 106 useless and a whole bunch injured.

Manoj Sinha, India’s high appointed official within the area, mentioned he had directed officers to analyze the stampede and to look into how such episodes could possibly be averted sooner or later.

Movies from Mata Vaishno Devi — which is tucked in a mountain about 5,200 ft above sea degree and is visited every year by thousands and thousands of Hindu pilgrims — confirmed 1000’s of individuals jostling for area close to the doorway to the shrine minutes earlier than the stampede. Later movies present ambulances speeding towards the temple and 1000’s of individuals making an attempt to depart.

Amit Chowdhary, a businessman from Chandigarh, the capital of Punjab, mentioned he was amongst about two dozen individuals who fell as they noticed an enormous crowd making an attempt to depart by means of one of many shrine’s gates.

“After I fell, I believed the primary day of this 12 months was going to be the final day of my life,” Mr. Chowdhary mentioned. “Folks had been transferring over the useless our bodies. One way or the other I managed to drag myself up and ran for my life.”