Tragedy hits Naina Devi pilgrimage: 130 killed in stampede

Bilaspur, Aug 3 (UNI) Tragedy struck the pilgrimage to the Naina Devi shrine in the district this morning when 130 devotees, a majority of them women and children and aged men were killed in a stampede after a railing at an entrance gave way under the weight of the Sunday crowd.

Sixty others were injured.

Official sources of the Himachal Pradesh government confirmed the death toll at the civil hospital at Anandpur Sahib in Punjab where the autopsy on the dead bodies was being conducted. Among the dead were 38 children.

A victims are from Himachal Pradesh, Punjab and even from Chandigarh who had gone to pay obeisance at the shrine on the occasion of 'Sawan Navratras". The victims from Punjab are from Bathinda, Sangrur, Mansa and Nabha.

A family from a village in Una district lost seven members in the tragedy which struck the hill state on a Sunday when the rush of devotees is comparatively high as compared to other days.

The injured have been admitted at hospitals in Anandpur Sahib, Nangal, Bilaspur while the seriously injured have been rushed to the PGI at Chandigarh.

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