AT LEAST 146, INCLUDING 30 CHILDREN, KILLED AT NAINA DEVI TEMPLE STAMPEDE
Bilaspur/Anandpur Sahib August 4:
At least 146 people, including 30 children, were killed and scores injured in a stampede at Naina Devi temple triggered by rumours of a landslide. The district authorities have so far managed to recover 90 bodies. The temple is located about 160 kms from Shimla.
The stampede reportedly occurred at around 10:45 am following rumours of a landslide and rolling down of boulders from a nearby hilltop. This created a fear among the devotees resulting in the stampede as a large number of people trekking up and returning from the shrine ran into each other in a bid to escape.
Relief operations are underway at the site of the incident and the injured have been rushed to various hospitals in nearby towns. The bodies, mostly of people from Patiala, reached Bhai Jaitta Civil Hospital in Anandpur Sahib, Punjab, which is about 40km from the temple site, for post-mortem, Ropar Deputy Commissioner B Purshartha said.
An estimated 20,000 to 25,000 pilgrims had gathered at the temple to offer prayers on the occasion of 'Navratra', a nine-day religious festival involving fasting in reverence to Goddess Durga worshipped as the symbol of power. The devotees had gathered at the temple, which is located at a hill-top 160 km from Shimla.
As men, women and children waited in a serpentine queue to have a glimpse of the deity, suddenly all hell broke loose with people running helter skelter following the rumour of the landslide. Children and women clutching the hands of their near and dear ones got separated in the rush to escape the landslide, realising little that they were hurtling to another form of death.
The people from nearby areas of Anandpur Sahib has set up a community kitchen close to the hospital. Himachal Pradesh government announced a magisterial inquiry into the incident and compensation of Rs one lakh to next of the kin of the dead. Himachal MP Anurag Thakur, who is the son of Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal, visited the injured at the hospital.
Thakur said the state government would take all possible steps to help the injured and those whose relatives had been killed. In Anandpur Sahib, Ropar Deputy Commissioner said 47 injured persons were admitted to hospitals at Rupnagar and Nangal. Punjab government has set up control room at Anandpur Sahib and all information about the killed and injured people can be obtained from phone no. 01887-232672.
The incident has sent shock waves in Punjab since a majority of the people killed in stampede belonged to Malwa region of Punjab. A large number of people from Punjab visit the temple during Navratras every year.
Devotees continue to trek: Undeterred by the tragedy that struck in the Naina Devi temple, devotees continued to trek to the goddess Durga temple here tonight and offer prayers. Though their number has come down, devotees continued to offer prayer at the temple on the second day of nine-day Navratra festival with usual fervour.
Bilaspur/Anandpur Sahib August 4:
At least 146 people, including 30 children, were killed and scores injured in a stampede at Naina Devi temple triggered by rumours of a landslide. The district authorities have so far managed to recover 90 bodies. The temple is located about 160 kms from Shimla.
The stampede reportedly occurred at around 10:45 am following rumours of a landslide and rolling down of boulders from a nearby hilltop. This created a fear among the devotees resulting in the stampede as a large number of people trekking up and returning from the shrine ran into each other in a bid to escape.
Relief operations are underway at the site of the incident and the injured have been rushed to various hospitals in nearby towns. The bodies, mostly of people from Patiala, reached Bhai Jaitta Civil Hospital in Anandpur Sahib, Punjab, which is about 40km from the temple site, for post-mortem, Ropar Deputy Commissioner B Purshartha said.
An estimated 20,000 to 25,000 pilgrims had gathered at the temple to offer prayers on the occasion of 'Navratra', a nine-day religious festival involving fasting in reverence to Goddess Durga worshipped as the symbol of power. The devotees had gathered at the temple, which is located at a hill-top 160 km from Shimla.
As men, women and children waited in a serpentine queue to have a glimpse of the deity, suddenly all hell broke loose with people running helter skelter following the rumour of the landslide. Children and women clutching the hands of their near and dear ones got separated in the rush to escape the landslide, realising little that they were hurtling to another form of death.
The people from nearby areas of Anandpur Sahib has set up a community kitchen close to the hospital. Himachal Pradesh government announced a magisterial inquiry into the incident and compensation of Rs one lakh to next of the kin of the dead. Himachal MP Anurag Thakur, who is the son of Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal, visited the injured at the hospital.
Thakur said the state government would take all possible steps to help the injured and those whose relatives had been killed. In Anandpur Sahib, Ropar Deputy Commissioner said 47 injured persons were admitted to hospitals at Rupnagar and Nangal. Punjab government has set up control room at Anandpur Sahib and all information about the killed and injured people can be obtained from phone no. 01887-232672.
The incident has sent shock waves in Punjab since a majority of the people killed in stampede belonged to Malwa region of Punjab. A large number of people from Punjab visit the temple during Navratras every year.
Devotees continue to trek: Undeterred by the tragedy that struck in the Naina Devi temple, devotees continued to trek to the goddess Durga temple here tonight and offer prayers. Though their number has come down, devotees continued to offer prayer at the temple on the second day of nine-day Navratra festival with usual fervour.
