At least 50 people have been killed and dozens injured in a riot during a religious event in the northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, where thousands of worshipers had gathered.
Ashish Kumar, the district magistrate in Hathras, the town where the incident took place, told reporters at the scene that most of the dead so far were women and children who appeared to have suffocated to escape the scene. Local officials said the heat and overcrowding had caused panic.
“Towards the end of the church, when the worshipers were leaving, this incident happened because of the very high humidity,” Mr Kumar said.
Umesh Kumar Tripathi, a doctor in neighboring Etah district in western Uttar Pradesh, said more victims were being taken to other hospitals.
“The death toll may rise,” Mr. Tripathi said.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who was addressing India’s parliament when news of the incident broke, said “the administration is engaged in relief and rescue work.”
“I assure everyone through this House that the victims will be helped in every way possible,” he said.
Unverified videos on social media showed a large number of bodies, mostly women, in the courtyard of a government building.
The event, a large Hindu prayer gathering, was organized by a guru known locally as Bhole Baba, who has been leading such gatherings for more than two decades. The ruckus happened at the end of the meeting.
Rajesh Singh, a police officer in Hathras, said the permit for the event allowed 5,000 people. However, initial reports from the scene indicated the crowd was much larger than that, he said in a telephone interview. More than 150 people have been admitted to different hospitals, he said.
In India, deadly riots with mass casualties during religious pilgrimages are common due to poor enforcement of public safety measures. In recent years, authorities have increased surveillance of large religious gatherings by deploying more police and using drones.
“Both the state and federal governments have failed to develop a sensitive approach to crowd management. As a nation we are good at attracting crowds but not good at managing them,” said Manoj Kumar Jha, a member of the Indian Parliament. “Every year, these kinds of incidents happen again and we learn nothing.”
Mujib Masal contributed to the report.
