news details |
|
|
| Four killed, 20 injured in Puri temple stampede | | | Puri, Nov 4 At least four persons, including three women, were killed and about 20 others injured in a stampede at the Sri Jagannath Temple at Puri early this morning.
The stampede occurred inside the 12th century shrine when a huge crowd, mostly of elderly people, tried to enter the shrine for a 'darshan' of the deities on the occasion of 'Badaosha' festival in the Hindu month of Kartik, officials said.
Two of the victims were identified as Basanti Nayak and Sarojini Panda, they said, adding that the injured were rushed to the district headquarter hospital here.
The incident occurred inside the temple when the 'mangala arti' ritual was being performed in the sanctum sanctorum, temple Chief Administrator Suresh Mohapatra said.
As soon as the door opened, the crowd surged forward and some of the people in the front tripped and fell which led to the stampede, he said.
"We did not anticipate such an incident as the crowd is generally not huge during mangala arati ritual," Mohapatra said, adding the situation was normal now.
In addition to 'Badaosha', today is also the penultimate day of 'Panchuka', a five-day period when Hindus in Orissa shun non-vegetarian food. Devotees throng the pilgrim town at this time of the year as they believe it is "righteous" to do so.
Inquiries have revealed that the incident occurred at 'Sata pahacha' near the 'Jhulana mandap' inside the shrine where the crowd waited to enter the shrine.
This is the second stampede in the temple in the last 13 years. Several people had died in a similar incident that occurred during 'Nagarjuna Besa', a major temple festival, in 1993. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
| |
|
|
|
|
 |
|
|
