Stampede in Puri temple: 4 killed, ten injured

Puri, Nov 04: About three people were killed and ten others injured during a stampede inside the Jagmohan of the famous Jagannath temple here this morning.

Jagannath Temple Chief Administrator Suresh Mohapatra said there was an unprecedented rush of the devotees during the 'mangal arati' of the temple's presiding deities at 0700 hours both inside and out side the Jagamohan.

In a bid to witness the 'Mangal arati' the devotees rushed inside the Jagmohan leading to a chaotic situation inside the temple.

Several devotees were injured and were rushed to the Puri Sadar Hospital where three devotees, two of them male, died.

Hospital sources said at least ten devotees were admitted in the hospital while few others were discharged after preliminary treatment.

The Jagannath Temple Management Committee has called an emergency meeting today at 1700 hours to discuss the situation that led to such an unfortunate incident.

Over a lakh of devotees, majority of them widows have congregated at this holy city to observe the 'Kartik prunima' tomorrow. The temple had been witnessing unprecedented crowd for the last few days due to the 'Panchuk', rituals observed by the women on the concluding week of their month long 'Kartik Puja' fasting.

Mr Mohapatra said adequate police arrangements were made both inside and outside the temple in view of the presence of large number of devotees in the temple since past three days.

Temple sources said the rituals were carried on smoothly as none of the devotees died inside the temple premises.

However, the situation inside the temple had been brought to normalcy and senior police officials have rushed to the temple to monitor the situation.

UNI