At least one person died and numerous others were hospitalized following a crowd surge during a Hindu festival in Odisha, India, on Thursday. The incident occurred as tens of thousands of devotees converged in the coastal town of Puri for the annual Rath Yatra chariot festival.
The Rath Yatra is recognized as one of the world's oldest and largest religious processions. It involves the ceremonial procession of deities from the Jagannath Temple through the streets in elaborately decorated chariots.
Videos from the scene depicted injured devotees being transported to medical facilities, with personal belongings scattered across the ground. Odisha police reported that rescue teams provided immediate first aid and oxygen to 33 individuals before they were taken to nearby hospitals.
This is not the first such incident at the Rath Yatra festival; last year, three people were killed and over a dozen hospitalized due to a similar crowd surge during the same event. Crowd crushes have occurred with some frequency in India during religious festivals, often attributed to the immense number of people gathered in limited spaces lacking adequate safety measures and crowd control.
Historically, large gatherings for religious events in India have led to tragedies. In January of the previous year, at least 30 people died when a massive crowd of Hindus rushed to take a ritual bath during the Maha Kumbh festival. In 2013, a stampede among Hindu pilgrims at a festival in Madhya Pradesh, triggered by fears of a bridge collapse, resulted in the deaths of at least 115 people who were either crushed or drowned.