At least 27 dead in stampede during religious gathering in northern India

Several more injured in the incident at Uttar Pradesh’s Hathras district, with officials fearing the toll could rise.

At least 27 people have died in a stampede during a religious event in Hathras district of India’s Uttar Pradesh state, officials and local media reports say.

“We have received 27 bodies so far… bodies are still coming,” the northern state’s senior medical officer Ram Mohan Tiwari told AFP news agency on Tuesday.

Crowds had gathered to celebrate the Hindu deity Shiva at a village in Hathras, some 140km (87 miles) southeast of New Delhi.

Police in Hathras said the dead included 23 women, three children and a man. He said more than 150 people were admitted to hospitals after the crush, adding the death toll may rise.

“Many injured have also been admitted,” Umesh Kumar Tripathi, the district’s chief medical officer, told reporters. “The primary reason is a stampede during a religious event.”

State Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has ordered an investigation into the incident.

“Instructions have been given to the concerned officials to conduct relief and rescue operations on war footing and to provide proper treatment to the injured,” he wrote on X.

Deadly accidents are common at places of worship in India during major religious festivals.

At least 112 people were killed in 2016 after a huge explosion caused by a banned fireworks display at a temple marking the Hindu new year.

The blast ripped through concrete buildings and ignited a fire at a temple complex in Kerala state, where thousands had gathered.

Another 115 devotees died in 2013 after a stampede at a bridge near a temple in Madhya Pradesh state in central India.

Up to 400,000 people were gathered in the area, and the stampede occurred after a rumour spread that the bridge was about to collapse.

About 224 pilgrims died and more than 400 others were injured in a 2008 stampede at a hilltop temple in the northern city of Jodhpur in Rajasthan state.