80 people feared dead in temple stampede in India

Sunday, August 3, 2008 at 7:15 pm

SHIMLA: Eighty worshippers are feared dead, nearly half of them children, in a stampede during a religious festival in the northern Indian hill state of Himachal Pradesh on Sunday.

The accident took place at the famed Naina Devi temple in the state’s Bilaspur district, where tens of thousands of people have been gathering for the festival that started Saturday.

Most people died of suffocation, and around 30 of the dead were children, police said.

Police said nearly 50,000 worshippers were expected daily during the week-long festival, but many more had turned up on Sunday, leading to a massive rush at the pilgrimage centre in the foothills of the Himalayas.

The accident occurred when a railing at the popular shrine collapsed under the weight of devotees — many of whom fell down at the hilltop temple, which is situated about 150 kilometres (90 miles) from state capital Shimla.

The fall of the railing at the narrow, steep staircase leading to the temple resulted in commotion and panic among pilgrims who had come to offer prayers to the goddess Nanda Devi.

Many of the deceased were from the neighbouring Punjab state, from where additional police had been requested to help at the accident site.