Hathras: Mass panic at religious event leaves at least 116 dead and 80 injured

LUCKNOW, India (AP) — Thousands of people rushed out of a makeshift tent at a religious gathering in India, triggering a stampede Tuesday that left at least 116 people dead and scores injured, officials said.

It was not immediately clear what sparked the panic following an incident involving a Hindu guru known locally as Bhole Baba. Local news reports cited authorities as saying heat and suffocation in the tent may have been a factor. Video of the aftermath showed the structure appeared to have collapsed.

At least 116 people have died, most of them women and children, said Prashant Kumar, director general of police in the northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, where the stampede took place.

More than 80 other people were injured and hospitalized, said senior police officer Shalabh Mathur.

“People fell one after another. Those who were crushed died. The people there pulled them out,” witness Shakuntala Devi told the Press Trust of India news agency.

Relatives cried out in despair as the bodies of the dead, laid out on stretchers and wrapped in white sheets, were lined up in the grounds of a local hospital. A bus arriving there brought more victims, their bodies lying on the seats inside.

Deadly mass panic are relatively common around Indian religious festivals, where large crowds gather in a small space with poor infrastructure and few security precautions.

According to police officer Rajesh Singh, the event in a village in Hathras district, about 350 kilometers southwest of the state capital Lucknow, was likely overcrowded.

Initial reports said organisers had permission to host about 5,000 people, but more than 15,000 turned up at the event hosted by the Hindu preacher, who was a police officer in the state before giving up his job to deliver religious sermons and has led other such gatherings over the past two decades.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi expressed his condolences to the families of the dead and said the federal government was working with state authorities to ensure that the injured were helped.

Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath described the stampede as “heartbreaking” in a post on X and said authorities were investigating.

“Look at what happened and how many people lost their lives. Is anyone being held accountable?” Rajesh Kumar Jha, a member of parliament, told reporters. He said the stampede was a failure of the state and federal governments to manage large crowds, adding that “people will continue to die” if authorities do not take safety protocols seriously enough.

In 2013, pilgrims visiting a temple for a popular Hindu festival in the central state of Madhya Pradesh trampled on each other over fears that a bridge might collapse. At least 115 were crushed to death or died in the river.

In 2011, more than 100 Hindu believers died in a crush during a religious festival in the southern state of Kerala.

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Pathi reported from New Delhi.