Temple stampede leaves one dead in Kanpur

New Delhi, Sept 25: Tragedies in temples seem to have become a regular affair in India. As cores of devotees come together to offer their prayers in Hindu

places, accidents, mostly stampedes, have become very frequent.

The latest mishap happened at a temple in Kanpur, where one person was killed and 13 others were injured in a stampede on Monday, Sept 24. The injured people are undergoing treatment in a hospital.

Eyewitnesses say massive crowd had gathered at the Hanuman temple of Panki, about 7 km from Kanpur, to celebrate Budhwa Mangal Festival. Devotees present in the temple said that the stampede happened as the temple had no proper crowd control arrangements in place.

The doors of the 500-year-old temple were to open at 3 am on Tuesday but people started lining up since Monday night, said a temple priest.

"The crowd went berserk as the temple was full of devotees. There was no crowd control arrangement system in place. Thus the stampede occurred," lamented a devotee.

At one point of time crowd became so uncontrollable that police personnel present near the temple site resorted to mild force to control the situation.

DIG (Kanpur) Amitabh Yash told reporters that serpentine lines were seen outside the temple since Monday night following which additional policemen were posted near the site.

OneIndia News