Stampede after stampede after…

Aiema Tauheed, Kolkata

There have been at least 14 significant public events resulting in stampedes and other forms of crowd chaos in just two years in India between January 1, 2024 and November 6 this year.

The stampedes have resulted in 237 deaths. The victims are mostly women and children. The number of injuries is only roughly known and no account is kept of impairment. Someone may not have died but could have lost the use of a limb.

There is, of course, no account of the mental anguish experienced by people caught in these incidents. How do survivors deal with post-trauma stress disorder? Also unknown is the impact on the families of the dead and injured. Were family incomes disrupted? Have children been orphaned? Are there elderly parents who have lost the only support they had?

Many of these stampedes could have been prevented by timely crowd management and rigorous standards for holding public events. But despite the regularity with which they happen there has been no cross-learning or a national effort to put protocols in place.   

We offer a bareboned record for just two years based on news reports. It is an indication of what a wider time frame would reveal.

 

2025

November 1: Nine people died and 25 were injured in Srikakulam district, Andhra Pradesh. Eight of the dead were women, one a boy. A huge number of devotees had gathered at the Venkateswara Swamy temple on the occasion of Ekadashi. Survivors blamed the lack of proper crowd management and the use of a narrow path for both entry and exit for triggering the stampede.

October 7: An undetermined number of people were injured at Huligi, Koppal, in Karnataka. Shigi Hunnime or full moon saw some 300,000 devotees turning up at the Huligemma Devi temple from Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana. Any semblance of order went awry as crowd control failed. Children and women were seen wailing amid the crush. Narrow access routes couldn’t handle the crowd.

September 27: There were 40 dead and 124 injured at Veluchamipuram, Karur, Tamil Nadu. A rally had been organized for Vijay, actor-turned-politician  and chief of the Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam. He arrived hours late and the waiting crowd surged towards his vehicle.

August 5: At least seven devotees died at Kubreshwar Dham, Sehore district, Madhya Pradesh. The deaths took place over three days at an event led by Hindu mythology storyteller Pandit Pradip Mishra. A stampede occurred on August 5 during rudraksha distribution, resulting in the deaths of two women. Three more men over the age of 50 died later during a yatra due to health reasons, and on the morning of August 7, two more devotees aged 40 and 22 died allegedly of heart attacks.

July 27: Eight people died, and about 30 were injured in a stampede at the Mansa Devi temple, Haridwar, Uttarakhand. A massive crowd had gathered along the stairway route of the shrine when a rumour that an electric line had snapped triggered panic among devotees.

June 29: Three devotees, including two women, were killed and at least 50 injured in a stampede near the Gundicha temple in Puri, Odisha, during the Rath Yatra. The incident occurred in the early hours when thousands of devotees surged towards the chariots carrying Lord Jagannath, Lord Balabhadra and Devi Subhadra for a closer glimpse. On June 27, more than 700 devotees had been hospitalized due to a stampede-like situation and heat exhaustion.

June 4: Eleven fans died and 71 were injured near the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bengaluru. Thousands of fans had gathered near the stadium gates to celebrate the Royal Challengers Bengaluru’s historic first title win in 18 years. Overcrowding and narrow passageways led to a deadly rush. While the stadium could hold around 32,000 people, over 200,000 had gathered.

May 3: Six people died and over 80 were injured in a stampede in North Goa. Around 100,000 devotees had gathered for the annual Lairai Jatra procession in Shirgao village and were heading to the Shree Lairai Devi temple. A rope barricade broke on the steep hill, triggering chaos.

February 15: Eighteen people died and 15 were injured at New Delhi Railway Station. A stampede was triggered by a falling headload on the stairs of the overbridge leading to Platforms 14 and 15. Among the dead, 14 were women and five were children. A large number of passengers were heading to Prayagraj for the Mahakumbh.

January 29: Eighty-two people died at the Mahakumbh in Prayagraj as hundreds of thousands of pilgrims jostled for space to take a holy dip on the occasion of Mauni Amavasya.

January 9: Six devotees, including three women, died and several others were injured at Tirupati, Andhra Pradesh. There was a surge of devotees during the distribution of tokens for Vaikunta Dwara Darshanam at the Lord Venkateswara temple.

 

2024

December 4: A 35-year-old woman died and her eight-year-old son was severely injured at Sandhya Theatre, Hyderabad. A crowd went out of control when actor Allu Arjun suddenly showed up during a screening of Pushpa 2:The Rule.

October 27: Ten people, including two teenagers, were injured, and one later died, in a surge of passengers trying to get onto an unreserved train at Bandra Station, Mumbai.

August 12: Seven people, including six women, died and 16 were injured at the Baba Sidhanath temple, Jehanabad. A stampede was triggered by a dispute involving a flower-seller.

July 2: There were 121 deaths, 112 of them women and seven children, at a prayer meeting in Hathras, Uttar Pradesh. The event, by self-styled godman Bhole Baba (also known as Suraj Pal), drew over 200,000 devotees despite permission for only 80,000. Chaos ensued when Bhole Baba left the stage and people exited the tent, surging towards him to touch his feet or the ground he walked on.

July 4: At least 11 persons were rushed to hospitals with minor injuries or giddiness on Marine Drive, Mumbai. An estimated 300,000 fans had showed up for the victory parade of the Indian cricket team after the World Cup.