INDIA: At least 39 people, including 26 women, were trampled to death and another 150 were injured yesterday following a stampede by millions of Hindus rushing to bathe in one of western India's holiest rivers during a festival held every three years.
Police said that the stampede occurred following the collapse of a barricade at which Hindu devotees had lined up to await their turn to bathe in the Godavari River near the industrial town of Nashik, which is about 125 miles north of Bombay. The devotees believed that the bathing ritual would cleanse them of all their impurities.
"There were about 50,000 people behind one barricade in one of several narrow alleyways leading to the river who were desperately pushing forward. Under their pressure, the bamboo fencing holding them back broke and the wild stampede began", said Mr Chhagan Bhujbal, deputy chief minister of Maharashtra state, of which Bombay is the capital.
"The police could not control the crowd, who burst through the barricade," said Mr Uttam Rao Dhikle, a local politician.
Despite the tragedy, tens of thousands of pilgrims continued worshipping at the festival, which is spread over a large area. Many were unaware of the accident.
Police said that about two million Hindu priests and devotees, clad in saffron and white, swept into Nashik, dancing and singing songs as they made their way to the bank of the Ram Kund River during the Kumbh Mela or Nectar Port festival, which takes place every three years in different parts of India.
Organisers estimate that about 60 million devotees will have participated in the four-week-long festival by the time it ends next week.
According to legend, the spot is considered sacred because the Hindu warrior god Ram, accompanied by his wife Sita and brother Laxman, is believed to have spent time there after being forced into exile by his father.
Stampedes are not uncommon at major Hindu religious festivals, which attract tens of millions of worshippers. In 1999, 51 pilgrims died following a stampede at a shrine in southern India after a rope barrier which had been put in place to control the movement of devotees snapped.
