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No less than 12 folks have been killed and 15 injured in a stampede at a preferred Hindu shrine in Indian-controlled Kashmir, officers stated.
The crush within the early morning on the Mata Vaishno Devi shrine got here as a 1000’s gathered to mark the beginning of the brand new 12 months.
India’s prime minister Narendra Modi provided condolences in a message on Twitter, saying he was “extraordinarily saddened by the lack of lives”.
Preliminary stories instructed an altercation between a bunch of devotees had led to the crush.
One eyewitness, who gave the identify Mahesh, stated: “One thing occurred close to one of many gates and I discovered myself underneath a crush of individuals.
“I suffocated and fell however someway managed to face up.
“I noticed folks shifting over the our bodies.
“It was a horrifying sight, however I managed to assist in rescuing some injured folks.”
One other devotee known as Priyansh, who had arrived with ten pals from New Delhi on Friday evening, stated two of them died within the crush.
Police chief Dilbag Singh was quoted by Press Belief of India information company as saying that authorities have been fast to reply and that order inside the crowd was instantly restored.
The pilgrimage resumed after practically 4 hours, officers stated, and an investigation was underway.
The hilltop temple is among the most visited shrines in northern India.
The incident comes after a stampede in 2013 in central Madhya Pradesh state when pilgrims visiting a temple for a Hindu pageant trampled over one another amid fears {that a} bridge would collapse, and at the least 115 folks have been crushed to dying or died within the river beneath.
In 2011, greater than 100 Hindu devotees died in a crush at a spiritual pageant within the southern state of Kerala.
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