Scenes of piety and devotion quickly turned to devastation Tuesday as at least 16 people were killed in a stampede that broke out when massive crowds had gathered near the Ganges for a religious meet in this temple town.


About four lakh devotees were here for a five-day event that began Sunday to propagate the Gayatri Mantra, one of the foremost chants in Hinduism. But tragedy struck the gathering, which had been lauded for its discipline.

Witnesses said the tragedy occurred when an elderly woman slipped while walking through a barricaded route close to where 1,551 'yagyas' - or fire rituals - were on.

"Once the woman fell, there was commotion. The crowds, however, kept pushing ahead. In no time, people began to fall over one another, crushing many," an activist for Gayatri Parivar, the organisers, told IANS in Haridwar, about 50 km from the state capital Dehradun.

The activist, as well as local officials, said the dead included 14 women and two men. Most of the victims were elderly and suffocated to death. Around 40 others were injured in varying degrees.

Within minutes, sounds of bhajans being sung were replaced by ambulances with waling sirens rushing the dead, the dying and the injured to a 10-bed hospital that the organisers had set up to deal with emergency situations.

Some were taken to other hospitals in the Hindu holy town. "Some of the injured are serious but not critical," a district official told IANS.

Some of the injured -- men and women -- limped away from the site of tragedy. Others were taken away on stretchers. Devotees walked around, traumatised after the experience as others gathered at hospitals to get news of their relatives.

Local officials claimed that the organisers had not told them that lakhs would throng Haridwar during the event but the Gayatri Parvar denied this.

"This is not at all true. A senior minister of Uttarakhand was at our inaugural function, so was a former chief minister and a central minister. And they all knew what a mammoth function we were organising," the activist said.

Gayatri Parivar spokespersons had told IANS last week that they expected some 50 lakh people to attend the event over five days.

"We knew about the crowds and we had told everyone including the media," a spokesperson said Tuesday.

He added that Gayatri Parivar, which commands millions of members mostly in northern and western India, had urged the elderly not to visit Haridwar but many chose to do so.

The event also marked the centenary celebrations of the group's founder, Pandit Sitaram Sharma.

Among those expected to attend the event were the chief ministers of Uttarakhand, Gujarat, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh, anti-corruption activist Anna Hazare and the Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama.

The families of those killed are expected to get Rs.5 lakh each as compensation.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh expressed his grief and announced Rs.1 lakh for the families of those killed and Rs.50,000 for each of the injured. Uttarakhand Chief Minister B.C. Khanduri and Gayatri Parivar organisation also offered compensation of Rs.2 lakh to the kin of each of those killed.

Gayatri Parivar head Pranav Pandya, while announcing the compensation, also accepted "moral responsibility" for the disaster.

The event, originally set to end Thursday, will now conclude Wednesday morning.

Nearly 1,000 lives lost in temple stampedes in past decade

PTI | New Delhi

Stampedes at temples and other religious places in India have claimed nearly 1,000 lives in the last 10 years in the country.

Before today's stampede at an ashram in Haridwar which claimed 16 lives, there was a huge melee at the famed Sabarimala shrine in Kerala that killed more than 104 devotees on January 14 this year.

More than 60 people were also injured in the stampede which happened when a jeep crashed into homebound pilgrims at Pulmedu, a remote area in Kerala's Idukki district.

On March 4, 2010, about 63 people were killed and 15 injured when a gate at Kripalu Maharaj's Ashram at Pratapgarh in Uttar Pradesh collapsed during distribution of food on the occasion of a ritual, for which nearly 10,000 people had converged.

On September 30, 2008, nearly 250 devotees were killed and over 60 injured in a stampede at Chamunda Devi temple in Rajasthan's Jodhpur city.

The incident took place when there was a rumour of a bomb going off. More than 10,000 people had turned up at the famous temple for a darshan of the Hindu goddess.

A similar tragedy at the Hindu temple of Naina Devi in Himachal Pradesh on August 3, 2008 had killed over 150 people, mainly women and children, and injured about 230.

On March 27 that year, at least eight devotees were crushed to death and 10 seriously injured in a stampede at a temple in the remote Karila village in Madhya Pradesh.

A stampede at Mandhar Devi temple in Maharashtra claimed 340 lives in January 2005. The accident happened when some people fell down on the steps made slippery by devotees breaking coconuts.

Among other stampedes, at least six people were killed and 12 injured in July 2008 during the annual Jagannath Yatra in Puri, Orissa. In January 2008, five people were killed at Durga Malleswara temple in Vijayawada in Andhra Pradesh.

In October 2007, 11 people were killed in such a tragedy at Pawagah in Gujarat while in November 2006, four elderly people were crushed to death during a stampede at Jagannath temple in Puri, Orissa.

Nealy 40 pilgrims were killed and 125 injured in a stampede at Kumbh Mela in Nasik in August 2003.

On 14 January, 1999, more than 50 people lost their lives in a stampede at the Pamba base camp near Sabarimala in Kerala. The melee was caused by, among other things, the collapse of the sides of a hillock.
Haridwar stampede: PM sanctions Rs one lakh for kin of dead
PTI | New Delhi

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today expressed grief over the loss of lives in a stampede in Haridwar in Uttarakhand and sanctioned Rs one lakh for the kin of those killed.

He also sanctioned Rs 50,000 for those seriously injured, a PMO spokesman said.

"The Prime Minister is grieved to learn about the loss of lives in the Haridwar stampede," the spokesman said.

The stampede occurred this morning during a religious ceremony when thousands of devotees tried to enter a temple at Chandidweep Ghat near Har Ki Pauri.

MP CM expresses grief over Haridwar stampede
PTI | Bhopal

Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister, Shivraj Singh Chouhan has expressed profound grief over the incident of stampede at Haridwar in which 16 people were killed today.

Chouhan offered condolences to the families of those killed in the incident, an official release said.

He also announced an ex-gratia of Rs two lakh each to the kin of the deceased person on behalf of Madhya Pradesh Government.