110 pilgrims killed in stampede in MP

[caption id="attachment_9340" align="alignleft" width="300"] Indian villagers on tractors move past bodies of victims of a stampede on a bridge across the Sindh River in Datia district in Madhya Pradesh state Photo: AP[/caption]

BHOPAL: The Navratra festivities ended in tragedy when 110 pilgrims including women and children were killed and more than 100 injured in a stampede on a bridge leading to the historic Ratangarh temple in Datia district of Madhya Pradesh on Sunday. It was a disastrous re-run of the 2006 stampede when more than 50 pilgrims had got washed away falling in panic into the Sindh river off the same bridge in 2006.

Eyewitnesses said over-crowding of the bridge, which is 500m long and 10m wide, caused one of its railings to snap, which led some people to shout that the bridge was collapsing. With more than a lakh of people for the pilgrimage, this set off panic with people trying to rush to safety, which caused the stampede.

Unconfirmed reports said police lathi charge to control pilgrims from jumping a queue created alarm and drove people in one direction, leading to sudden surge of people on the bridge that caused one of its railings to snap, which in turn created the panic. Sindh, a tributary of the Yamuna, is engorged with rains in past weeks and many people also fell into the river, the reason why administrative officials fear that the death toll could rise.

The bridge itself was a ghastly sight with bodies sprawled even as rescue teams from Gwalior, a mere 75-odd km away, were delayed due to battered roads and a 10-km long traffic jam. Pilgrims said there were only nine constables and a sub-inspector manning more than one lakh people along the 500-metre bridge when the stampede occurred.

"We have counted 105 bodies so far. Several pilgrims died on way to hospital. The toll may rise," said chief medical and health officer RH Gupta. Director general of police Nandan Kumar Dubey put the toll so far to "around 85". Most of the lakh-odd pilgrims in Datia, around 405 km north of Bhopal, were from Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh.

Chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan ordered a judicial inquiry into the tragedy and Congress president Sonia Gandhi has expressed shock and anguish. The Ratangarh temple is 55 km from the Datia district headquarters.

~ioi