Three Dead, Dozens Injured in Stampede at Hindu Festival in India

Three people have died, and dozens more were injured in a stampede during the annual Rath Yatra (Chariot Festival) near the Gundicha Temple in Puri, Odisha, on Saturday morning.

The tragedy unfolded as tens of thousands of devotees gathered to participate in the centuries-old Hindu festival, which involves the ceremonial pulling of three giant chariots carrying the deities Jagannath, Balabhadra, and Subhadra through the streets of Puri.

Officials said the incident was triggered by overcrowding and inadequate crowd control measures. A sudden surge in the tightly packed crowd caused panic, leading to multiple individuals collapsing from suffocation and exhaustion.

Emergency responders rushed approximately 15 people to nearby hospitals. While twelve were later discharged, three were pronounced dead. “They collapsed due to breathlessness and suffocation,” a senior administrative officer reported. “It was not a stampede in the traditional sense, but a crowd surge that became unmanageable.”

In the aftermath, the Odisha state government suspended two senior police officers, the Deputy Commissioner of Police in Puri and the Police Commandant, responsible for crowd management, citing failure to ensure public safety.

Eyewitnesses described scenes of chaos and distress. “People were shouting, pushing, trying to breathe. It was terrifying,” said one attendee.

Odisha’s Chief Minister, Mohan Charan Majhi, expressed condolences to the bereaved families and ordered a high-level probe into the incident. He pledged that future editions of the festival would see stricter safety and crowd management protocols.

However, opposition parties have condemned the state government, accusing it of “gross negligence” in handling one of the most significant religious events in the country. They called for accountability and reforms in how large-scale religious gatherings are managed.

The Rath Yatra, one of India’s largest and most sacred Hindu festivals, attracts millions of pilgrims from across the country and abroad. Saturday’s tragedy has cast a pall over the celebrations, prompting renewed concerns about the capacity of local authorities to manage such massive gatherings.