Massive overcrowding, lack of exits and slippery mud contributed to India’s deadly stampede

LUCKNOW, India (AP) — Authorities say massive overcrowding, insufficient exits and other factors contributed to a deadly stampede at a religious festival in northern India, which killed at least 121 people.

Five more people died on Wednesday morning, local official Manish Chaudhry said, and 28 were still being treated in hospital.

The stampede took place on Tuesday afternoon in a village in the Hathras district of Uttar Pradesh state, as large crowds rushed to leave a makeshift tent. It was not immediately clear what triggered the panic.

Authorities are investigating what happened and have launched a search for a Hindu guru known locally as Bhole Baba, as well as other organizers.

Deadly stampedes are relatively common at Indian religious festivals, where large crowds gather in small areas with poor infrastructure and few security measures.

Overcrowding, poor planning and bad weather were some of the factors cited as having contributed to the catastrophe.

About a quarter of a million people attended an event that was allowed to accommodate 80,000 people, held in a tent set up in a muddy field. It is unclear how many made it into the tent.

Utter Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath told reporters that a crowd of devotees rushed towards the preacher to touch him as he came down from the stage, causing chaos as volunteers scrambled to intervene.

An initial police report suggests that at this point thousands of people crowded toward the exit, where many slipped on the muddy ground, causing them to fall and be crushed by the crowd. Most of the dead were women.

Preacher Sri Jagar Guru Baba’s organization spent more than two weeks preparing for the event.

Devotees from across the state, which with more than 200 million inhabitants is India’s most populous, traveled to the village, with lines of parked vehicles stretching for three kilometers.

Experts said the event violated safety regulations. “The ceremony was held in an improvised tent, without guaranteeing multiple exits. Normally, there should be eight to 10 well-marked exits that give access to open areas,” said Sanjay Srivastava, a disaster management expert.

Instead, authorities said there appeared to be only a small exit into the tent.

On Tuesday, hundreds of family members gathered at local hospitals, crying in anguish as they saw the dead, placed on stretchers and covered with white sheets outside. Buses and trucks also transported dozens of victims to morgues.

Sonu Kumar was one of many local residents who helped lift and move dead bodies after the accident. He criticized the preacher: “He sat in the car and drove away. And his devotees here fell over one another and some remained in the water.”

“The screams were so painful. We have never seen anything like this before in our village,” Kumar added.

Binod Sokhna, who lost his mother, daughter and wife, cried as he left the morgue on Wednesday.

“My son called me and said dad, mom doesn’t exist anymore. Come here immediately. My wife is no more,” he said, crying.

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

In 2011, more than 100 Hindu devotees were crushed to death at a religious festival in the southern state of Kerala.