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Another catastrophe as 168 die in temple stampede in Jodhpur
Another catastrophe as 168 die in temple stampede in Jodhpur
Thousands of pilgrims, allegedly panicked by false rumors of a bomb, stampeded at a Hindu temple in Jodhpur, western India on tuesday, killing at least 168 people.
Television footage showed dozens of bodies lying on the sidewalk, while nearby frantic people tried to revive unconscious devotees, slapping their faces and pressing on their chests.
The disaster occurred just as the doors of the temple were being opened for worship at dawn for more than 12,000 people celebrating a key Hindu festival in the historic city of Jodhpur in Rajasthan state and eye witnesses said that the chaos began with false rumors of a bomb in a country already tense because of a spate of recent bomb attacks. The latest explosions were on Monday night in the western cities of Malegaon and Modasa killed 6 people and wounded 45. Devotees had broken coconuts as religious offerings and so the temple's floors were slick with coconut milk, causing pilgrims to slip and fall as they scrambled to escape. The problem escalated as those escaping met other pilgrims who had crammed a narrow 1 1/4-mile path leading to the temple, leaving little room for those fleeing. The chaos was made worse by the fact there was a power outage at the time. At least 168 people were killed in the stampede, Naresh Pal Gangwar, the district collector, told The Associated Press. Officials said 100 others were injured. This was the fourh disaster this year at religious events in India. Last month 145 people died in a stampede at the Naina Devi temple in Himachal Pradesh and weeks earlies six people had died at a Hindu festival in Puri where over one million worshippers attended. In March nine people died at a religious gathering in central India when railing broke at a temple triggering a stampede. Commentators added that deadly stampedes are a relatively common occurrence at temples in India, where large crowds — sometimes hundreds of thousands of people — congregate in small areas lacking facilities to control big gatherings. This was the worst disaster since 2005 when 265 pilgrims were killed in a stampede in the western state of Maharashtra although the problem isnt confirmed to India - in July 1990 1,426 pilgrims died in in the Al-Muaissem tunnel near Mecca in Saudi Arabia.
