A stampede at a Hindu temple in eastern India on Monday killed seven devotees and injured more than a dozen, hours after a fire swept through a hotel housing pilgrims in West Bengal state, resulting in at least seven additional deaths.
The stampede occurred near the Ashok Dham Temple in Bihar's Lakhisarai district, where thousands of devotees had gathered for prayers on the third Monday of Shravan, a significant month in the Hindu calendar dedicated to the worship of Lord Shiva.
According to civil official Shailendra Kumar, preliminary reports suggest an electric wire snapped outside the temple premises around 6:30 a.m., triggering panic among the devotees. A section of the barricades collapsed under the weight of the crowd, leading to a crush, Kumar told the Press Trust of India.
In Tarapith, a temple town in West Bengal's Birbhum district, a fire broke out around 4:30 a.m. on the ground floor of a four-story hotel. Many guests were asleep at the time. Firefighters brought the blaze under control, and the injured were transported to a hospital. Some sustained burn injuries, while others suffered from smoke inhalation and asphyxiation, according to the Press Trust of India.
Hotel management indicated that the fire may have originated near the reception area due to an electrical component in the hotel's power supply system. Authorities are investigating the exact cause of the hotel fire.
Crowd crushes are not uncommon in India during religious festivals, often occurring when large gatherings congregate in confined spaces with inadequate safety and crowd control measures. Such incidents have led to significant loss of life in the past. In January of the previous year, 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 Madhya Pradesh resulted in at least 115 deaths after pilgrims panicked amid fears of a bridge collapse, leading to people being crushed or falling into a river below.