Haridwar, July 27: A stampede broke out at Haridwar’s hilltop Mansa Devi temple where hundreds of devotees had gathered on Sunday, killing at least six people and leaving 28 injured, police said.
Rumours of an electric current where the stairs to the temple begin triggered panic among people, leading to the stampede, Haridwar’s Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Pramendra Singh Dobal said.
Thirty-four people were rushed to a hospital and six of them died, he said.
The incident took place around 9 am.
Being a Sunday, a large crowd of devotees had gathered at the temple atop the Shivalik hills at a height of more than 500 feet.
Videos from the spot showed a massive rush of people, including children and women, towards the narrow entrance of the temple and outside the hospital, worried family members waiting for the news of their loved ones.
Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami said a magisterial probe has been ordered.
“A stampede broke out at the Mansa Devi temple in the morning because of a rumour…. We have ordered a magisterial probe into the incident and those responsible for spreading the rumour will face strict action,” Dhami told reporters.
President Droupadi Murmu and Prime Minister Narendra Modi were among those who expressed grief over the loss of lives in the stampede.
“The news of the deaths of many devotees in a stampede on the way to the Mansa Devi temple in Haridwar is deeply painful. I express my heartfelt condolences to all the grieving families. I pray that all the injured devotees recover quickly,” Murmu said in a post in Hindi on X.
Modi, in a post on X, said: “Condolences to those who lost their loved ones. May the injured recover soon. The local administration is assisting those affected.”
The State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) and the fire brigade are at the spot.
Dhami announced a financial assistance of Rs 2 lakh to the next of kin of the deceased and Rs 50,000 to the injured.
He also visited the injured at the district hospital in Haridwar and assured their families of all help.
The State Emergency Operation Centre in Dehradun said six people were killed and 28 injured in the stampede, of whom five have been referred to the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) in Rishikesh.
Those killed were identified as Arush (12), Shakal Dev (18), Vicky (18), Vipin (18), Vakil and Shanti.
Earlier, in a post on Facebook, Dhami said he was saddened by the incident and that the situation was being monitored.
The temple, dedicated to goddess Mansa Devi, is one of the five sacred sites or Panch Tirthas of Haridwar.
Prime facie, it appears that the stampede broke out following a rumour that electricity was running through broken wires, District Magistrate Mayur Dikshit told reporters in Haridwar.
Some broken wires were found at the site, suggesting that some people tried to climb up the stairs to the temple by clutching at those, the district magistrate further added.
Closure of route prevented bigger tragedy
If the staircase route leading to the Mansa Devi temple was not closed half an hour before the stampede on Sunday, the scale of the tragedy would have been even bigger, a police official said.
“In view of the heavy crowd, people were stopped from going on the staircase route half an hour before the incident in the morning. If the staircase route had not been closed, the tragedy could have been bigger,” Haridwar Kotwali in-charge Ritesh Shah said. (PTI)