At least six people were crushed to death and several others were injured during a Hindu religious gathering in India, officials reported on Thursday.
The incident occurred on Wednesday when a massive crowd gathered to collect entrance tokens for the Sri Venkateswara Swamy Temple in the southern state of Andhra Pradesh, triggering a deadly stampede.
“The unfortunate incident… has claimed the lives of six devotees. I pray to God to grant peace to the departed souls,” said Prem Kumar Jain, a spokesman for the state’s ruling Telugu Desam Party.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi expressed his condolences, offering sympathy to the families of the deceased. “My thoughts are with those who have lost their loved ones,” his office stated on social media platform X.
Deadly accidents during religious events are all too common in India, often due to poor crowd control and safety measures. Last July, 121 people lost their lives in a stampede at a Hindu gathering in Uttar Pradesh. In 2016, a fireworks explosion during the Hindu New Year celebrations at a temple in Kerala killed 112 people.
Wednesday’s tragedy comes just days before the Kumbh Mela, a six-week Hindu festival of prayer and sacred bathing, which is expected to be the largest religious gathering in history.
