August 25, 2014 11:16 am | Updated September 23, 2017 12:50 pm IST
300 people, mostly women and children, were killed in a stampede on January 25, 2005 on the narrow road leading to the Kalubai temple in Mandradevi, 18 km from Wai in Maharashtra's Satara district. The stampede was caused by panic after reports of fire following short-circuiting.
147 pilgrims were killed in an early morning stampede outside the Chamunda Devi temple on a hillock adjoining the Mehrangarh Fort in Jodhpur in September 30, 2008. The victims were either trampled to death or had died of suffocation. Some pilgrims standing in the men's queue lost balance on the slopy terrain, made slippery by the flowing coconut water on the road leading to the hill shrine.
More than 100 pilgrims were killed in a stampede on January 14, 2011 in Sabarimala. The tragedy had occurred while the pilgrims were returning after witnessing the 'Makarajyothi' from the grassland area (Pulmedu) which is about 12 km from Sabarimala. Over 30 million devotees had visited the shrine during the season.
Chhath puja celebrations turned into a nightmare for devotees as around 17 were feared dead after a makeshift bridge collapsed triggering a stampede at Adalat Ghat area in Patna on November 19, 2012. When the bridge collapsed, people were directed to another area on the banks through an approach road. Since the crowd swelled, devotees carrying the puja material started to push through, leading to the stampede. In the same year, 12 people were feared dead and six others injured during a stampede at a religious gathering in the Hussain Tekri shrine in Jaora, Madhya Pradesh in January. The stampede occurred as Muslim devotees gathered for Chellum, a religious occasion that follows Muharram.
115 people, most of them women or children, were killed in a stampede at the Ratangarh Mata Temple in Datia district in Madhya Pradesh on October 13, 2013. A section of the railing of a bridge from the temple broke, setting off a rumour that the bridge was collapsing. Around 25,000 people were on it at the time.
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