12 dead in stampede at popular Hindu shrine in Kashmir

SRINAGAR Jan. 1 (BNA) A stampede at a famous Hindu shrine in Indian-controlled Kashmir has killed at least 12 people and injured 13 others on New Year’s Eve, officials say.

An investigation has been ordered into the cause of the stampede early Saturday at the Mata Vaishnav Devi shrine, where thousands of Hindu devotees gathered to pay their respects in the mountain town of Katra near the southern city of Jammu.

The Associated Press reported that Mahesh, a devotee who gave only one name, said the stampede occurred near one of the gates where pilgrims entered and exited the road to the shrine.

“Something happened near one of the gates and I found myself crushed by people. I suffocated and fell but somehow managed to stand up.” I saw people moving over the corpses. It was a terrifying sight, but I was able to help save some of the wounded.”

Another devotee, Prianch, said he arrived with 10 friends from New Delhi on Friday night to visit the shrine and that two of his friends died in the accident.

“I’ve never seen anything like this,” he said.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi expressed his condolences in a message on Twitter.

“Very saddened by the loss of life due to the stampede,” Modi wrote.

Pilgrims often travel on foot to reach the hilltop temple, which is one of the most visited shrines in North India.

Deadly stampedes are fairly common during Indian religious ceremonies, when large crowds, sometimes in the millions, gather in small areas with little to no safety or crowd control.

In 2013, pilgrims visiting a temple for a popular Hindu festival in the central Indian state of Madhya Pradesh were stamped out amid fears that a bridge had collapsed, crushing at least 115 people to death or dying in the river below.

More than 100 Hindu worshipers were killed in 2011 in a stampede during a religious festival in the southern Indian state of Kerala.

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