9 die in India stampede

2012-09-24 12:35

Volunteers carry idols of the Hindu elephant headed god Ganesha on a raft to immerse it in the Arabian Sea on the fifth day of the ten-day-long Ganesh Chaturthi festival in Mumbai. (Rajanish Kakade, AP)

New Delhi - At least nine people were killed in a stampede at a Hindu religious gathering in eastern India on Monday, police said.

Fifteen more were injured in the incident in a prayer hall of the Satsang Ashram, a hermitage, in Jharkhand state's Deogarh district.

Thousands of devotees had gathered for morning prayers on the 125th anniversary of a Hindu spiritual guru, Anukul Chandra, the founder of the ashram.

"Eight women and a man were killed. All the victims were senior citizens," district police chief Subodh Prasad said by phone.

Senior administration officials told news channels that there was no crowd control and the stampede was triggered when pilgrims rushed in through the main gate.

Deadly stampedes are not unusual at India's religious shrines, which are often located at the end of narrow, steep paths and lack adequate arrangements for crowd control.

On Sunday, three pilgrims were killed in a stampede in a Hindu temple in the northern town of Mathura.

- SAPA