At least 12 people were killed in a stampede at a religious shrine in Kashmir, India, while a dozen others were injured as tens of thousands of pilgrims came to the temple to offer prayers on New Year’s Eve.
Police were quick to launch a rescue operation and found that at least 12 people were crushed to death in the stampede incident, and 15 others were injured and hospitalized.
Officials believe that the stampede was triggered by a large crowd of devotees who gathered at the shrine to pay their respects on New Year’s Eve.
One devotee, who only identified as Mahesh, claimed that the stampede occurred near one of the gates where pilgrims entered and exited the route to the shrine.
“Something happened near one of the gates and I found myself under a crush of people. I suffocated and fell but somehow managed to stand up,” Mahesh said.
“I saw people moving over the bodies. It was a horrifying sight, but I managed to help in rescuing some injured people.”
Pilgrims often trek on foot to reach the hilltop temple, which is one of the most visited shrines in northern India.
Deadly crowd surges are fairly common during Indian religious festivals where huge gatherings, sometimes in the millions, cover small areas with few safety or control measures.
A similar incident happened in 2013, when a stampede broke out near a temple at Ratangarh in Madhya Pradesh’s Datia district, killing at least 115 people and injuring more than 80. Officials believed a rumor that the bridge near the Ratangarh temple was collapsing had led to the stampede, The Hindu reported.
