Hathras stampede leaves 116 dead after Baba pulls 50k crowd in sweltering heat

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Intense heat & rush for water lead to stampede in Hathras: Report

By Our Special Correspondent

New Delhi, July 2: In a heart-wrenching incident, more than 116 people reportedly died and over 150 were grievously injured after a stampede at a religious event in Hathras in Uttar Pradesh.

Eyewitnesses claimed that over 50,000 devotees had gathered at a satsang by a spiritual guru in Hathras. Reuters in a report said that the stampede at Ratibhanpur village in Sikandra Rau block accounted mostly women among the deceased.

Reports also said that a large number of children also perished in the stampede.

Uttar Pradesh chief secretary Manoj Kumar Singh said that the state administration identified 72 bodies by late evening on Tuesday. “Our priority is to provide immediate assistance to the injured and send the bodies to their family members after conducting the post-mortem,” PTI quoted Singh telling reporters.

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He stated that the official death toll was 116. There were seven children and one man among the deceased, Singh added.

The news agency quoted an eyewitness, saying that the road outside the satsang venue had drains on both sides. “After the satsang ended, everyone came out,” the PTI quoted eyewitness Shakuntala, who added: “Outside, the road was built on a height with a drain below. One after the other, people started falling into it. Some people got crushed.”

The relatives of the deceased and injured told reporters that the officials reached the venue of the mishap late. They alleged that there was a lack of doctors to treat the injured.

The Hathras stampede is one of the worst incidents in the country, which left scores of people dead after a religious event. The stampede took place after the satsang by Narayan Sakar, a popular spiritual teacher.

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Viral videos showed a sea of people converging at an open ground. The cavalcade of Sakar could be seen in a video coming at the venue with siren blaring.

Reuters quoted local authorities saying that “thousands had gathered in sweltering late-afternoon temperatures”. Local officials blamed the stampede to overcrowding.

It was suggested that there was a rush to leave the venue after the Satsang ended. Locals alleged that there was no arrangement to manage the crowd.

Local officials also suggested that the stampeded may have been triggered after the devotees rushed for drinking water amid intense spell of heat. The officials claimed that wet mud at the spot where drinking water was arranged may have triggered the stampede.

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Heart-wrenching videos went viral on the social media platforms, showing bodies heaped on each other. The people were seen searching for the belongings among the bodies to identify their relatives.

The spiritual guru is said to be hugely popular. It may be noted that the cult of the spiritual gurus pulls a large number of crowds in several states.

Such gurus are also sought after by the politicians. During the recent elections, the spiritual gurus were hugely in demand among the politicians.

Reuters quoted a survivor, saying that the stampede may also have been caused because of the confusion among the devotees who did not know the exit direction. Some people were going left and some were going right, and that caused the stampede, added the survivor.

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