Seven people were killed and more than 50 injured in a stampede at a temple in India’s eastern state of Bihar on Monday, August 17.
Separately, hours before the Bihar incident, a fire at a residential hotel housing pilgrims in West Bengal killed at least seven people and left several others seriously injured.
The Bihar incident occurred around 6:30 a.m. Monday near the Ashok Dham temple in Lakhisarai district. Thousands of devotees had gathered at the temple to pray on the third Monday of the month of Shravan.
For Hindus, the month of Shravan is dedicated to the worship of Shiva, marked by fasting, prayer, and various monsoon-season festivals.
Civil official Shailendra Kumar said several people were taken to government hospitals for treatment. He said the cause of the stampede is still under investigation.
Initial reports said an electrical wire snapped outside the temple grounds around 6:30 a.m. Fearing electrocution, panicked devotees attempted to flee, triggering the incident.
Citing Shailendra Kumar, a Press Trust of India (PTI) report said part of a barricade collapsed under the pressure of a surging crowd. Several people fell, others fell on top of them, and a stampede resulted.
Separately, a fire broke out on the ground floor of a four-story hotel around 4:30 a.m. Monday in Tarapith, a temple town in West Bengal’s Birbhum district. PTI reported that most guests were asleep at the time.
The report said many of the hotel’s guests were pilgrims who had come to pray in Tarapith, home to a large temple complex that includes a temple dedicated to Shiva.
Firefighters brought the blaze under control after some time. The injured were taken to hospital. According to reports, some were being treated for burns, while others suffered from smoke inhalation and respiratory issues.
Hotel authorities told the news agency the fire may have started near the reception area after an electrical component in the power supply system caught fire. Authorities are investigating the incident, and the exact cause of the fire has not yet been confirmed.
Stampedes of this kind are relatively common in India during religious festivals. At large religious gatherings, sometimes millions of people converge in limited spaces without adequate safety and crowd-control measures.
In January last year, at least 30 people were killed in a stampede while bathing in a river during the Maha Kumbh festival, considered the world’s largest religious gathering.
In 2013, pilgrims attending a Hindu religious festival at a temple in Madhya Pradesh panicked over fears that a bridge was collapsing. At least 115 people were killed in that incident, either in the stampede or by drowning in the river below.
বাংলায় মূল প্রতিবেদন পড়ুন · Read the original Bengali report