Stampede at Hindu Festival in India Kills 19
At least 19 people died and 25 were injured in a stampede during the Durga Puja festival in West Bengal.
A stampede during a major Hindu festival in India’s West Bengal state has killed at least 19 people and left 25 others receiving treatment, officials said Sunday.
The incident occurred Saturday night in Kolkata, the state capital, when a crowd near a pavilion ran for cover amid sudden rain during Durga Puja, an annual festival celebrating the goddess Durga. Police stated that some worshippers fell, triggering the stampede.
Suvendu Adhikari, the Chief Minister, visited victims at Kolkata Medical College and Hospital and announced that a Special Investigation Team, to be headed by a judge from the state's High Court, would investigate the incident. Police have detained some organizers of the pavilion, private security personnel, and on-duty staff as part of a probe into alleged crowd-control and safety lapses.
Kolkata hosts approximately 3,500 Durga Puja pavilions, known locally as pandals. Following the stampede, authorities advised several of the most heavily attended venues to temporarily close.
Stampedes are not uncommon in India during religious festivals, where large crowds often gather in confined spaces with inadequate safety measures. In January 2025, at least 30 people died during the Maha Kumbh festival, the world's largest religious gathering, as tens of thousands of Hindus rushed to bathe in a sacred river. In 2013, a stampede at a Hindu festival in the central state of Madhya Pradesh resulted in the deaths of at least 115 people who were crushed or drowned after a bridge panic.