27 killed in stampede at Godavari Pushkaram in Andhra Pradesh

27 killed in stampede at Godavari Pushkaram in Andhra Pradesh

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·          At least 27 people were killed and dozens injured on Tuesday in a stampede during the mahapushkaram, a Hindu religious bathing festival on the Godavari river bank, in Andhra Pradesh.

The incident happened around 8am at Rajahmundry soon after chief minister Chandrababu Naidu and his family took the holy dip and left the place.

Some pilgrims trying to retrieve their shoes which had fallen off in the rush triggered the stampede as tens of thousands of people pushed forward to bathe in the Godavari on the first day of the festival, police said.

Some witnesses said several devotees tried to climb a wall along the popular pushkar ghat while others pushed forward, triggering a stampede.

Chief minister Naidu said 27 pilgrims died and an additional 34 people, mostly women and children, were hospitalised with injuries.

Naidu visited the injured in the hospital and announced a compensation of Rs 10 lakh to the families of the deceased.

“It is regrettable that lives are lost ... Situation is brought under control. Request people not to panic and head to other ghats to avoid overcrowding at a single ghat,” he tweeted.

About 24 million people are expected to take part in the festival at varying points along the Godavari, which flows through the recently-bifurcated states of Andhra Pradesh and  Telangana.

The authorities had prepared 275 ghats along the river but failed to contain the crowd on Day One rushing towards the main pushkar ghat in Rajahmundry.

Officials said a small place like Rajahmundry could not cope with the rush and the situation became almost unmanageable. Some pilgrims said ambulances took time to reach the site because the roads were overcrowded with people.

Devotees believe a dip in the river can rid them of their sins and thousands of them, riding in buses, trains and other vehicles, started reaching the pilgrimage centre two days ahead of festival.

“There is a false belief that taking a holy dip in the river on the first day of the festival will be more auspicious,” said Swamy Swaroopanand, a holy man. V Satyanarayana, a pilgrim who was at the site, said the stampede lasted nearly 20 minutes.

“It was a frightening situation, with women and children crying for help," he said. “The policemen on duty were helpless and it took more than an hour to bring the situation under control.”

With the bodies of victims lying around, relatives wailed and cried for help.

“This is an unfortunate incident even after all the precautions taken and monitored by the CM himself. We are rushing medical teams to help the victims,” health minister Kamineni Srinivas Rao said.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, too, took to Twitter to express his pain at the loss of lives. “My condolences to the families of the deceased and prayers with the injured.”

Telangana chief minister Chandrasekhar Rao, a bitter political rival of Naidu, said he was shocked and hoped there would be no more untoward incident during the rest of the 12-day festival.

Deadly stampedes are fairly common during Indian religious festivals, where large crowds gather in small areas with few safety or crowd control measures. In October 2013, a stampede in Madhya Pradesh killed more than 110 people, mostly women and children.