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HATHRAS, India: Survivors of India’s worst stampede in over a decade recalled the horror on Wednesday of being crushed at a deserted Hindu religious gathering that killed 121 people.
According to a police report, more than 250,000 people attended the event in the northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, more than three times the 80,000 for which organizers had permission.
On Wednesday morning, a few hours after the event, discarded clothing and lost shoes lay scattered across the muddy site, an open field next to a highway.
According to witnesses, the people fell on top of each other as they tumbled down a slope into a waterlogged ditch.
“Everyone – the entire crowd, including women and children – left the venue at once,” said 50-year-old police officer Sheela Maurya, who was on duty on Tuesday when a popular Hindu preacher delivered a sermon.
“There wasn’t enough space and everyone just fell on top of each other.”
Almost all of the dead were women. Dozens more were injured.
Officials suspected that the stampede was caused by worshipers trying to pick up dirt from the preacher’s footsteps, while others blamed a dust storm for the panic.
Some fainted under the pressure of the crowd, fell to the ground, were trampled and could no longer move.
On Wednesday, forensic investigators searched the scene for evidence.
Uttar Pradesh’s state disaster management center, the Office of the Relief Commissioner, released a list of the dead on Wednesday morning.
It was said that 121 people were killed.
Among the injured was Maurya, who had been on duty since early Tuesday morning in the scorching, humid heat during the preacher’s ceremony.
“I tried to help some women, but even I fainted and was crushed by the crowd,” she told AFP.
“I don’t know, but someone pulled me out and I don’t remember much.”
In India, fatal incidents at places of worship are common during major religious festivals. The biggest of these festivals cause millions of believers to make pilgrimages to the holy sites.
“The main road next to the field was jammed with people and cars for miles, there were far too many people here,” said Hori Lal, 45, who lives in Phulrai Mughalgadi village near the site of the stampede.
“When people started falling to the side and getting crushed, it was just chaos.”
Chaitra V., district commissioner of Aligarh city in Uttar Pradesh state, said the panic began when “visitors left the venue and a dust storm obscured their view, leading to a scuffle.”
The first police report on the deaths said it began when “followers began picking up dirt from the preacher’s path” as he left the venue.
Maurya said she has worked at several political rallies and large events in the past, but has never “seen such large crowds.”
“It was very hot, even I fell there and barely survived,” she added.
Four unidentified bodies lay on the floor of a makeshift morgue at the hospital in the nearby town of Hathras at dawn on Wednesday.
Farmer Ram Nivas, 35, said he was looking for his sister-in-law Rumla, 54, who went missing after the riot.
“We couldn’t find her anywhere,” Nivas said after visiting all the nearby hospitals throughout the night.
“We just hope she’s still alive,” he said quietly. “Maybe she’s just lost.”
In the hospital emergency room, 29-year-old Sandeep Kumar sat next to his injured sister Shikha Kumar, 22.
“After the event was over, everyone wanted to leave quickly and that led to the stampede,” said Sandeep.
“She saw people fainting and being crushed.”
Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced compensation of $2,400 to the families of those killed and $600 to those injured in the “tragic incident,” and the upper house of parliament observed a minute’s silence on Wednesday.
President Droupadi Murmu described the deaths as “heartbreaking” and expressed her “deepest condolences”.
Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, also a Hindu monk and wearing a flowing saffron robe, flew in by helicopter to visit the victims’ families.
Fatal incidents are a recurring occurrence at religious gatherings in India due to poor crowd management and security deficiencies.
In 2008, 224 pilgrims were killed and over 400 injured in a stampede outside a hilltop temple in the northern city of Jodhpur.