Police said 121 people died in stampedes at a Hindu rally in northern India that drew an estimated 250,000 people – three times the capacity allowed by authorities.
This fatal collision Satsang The gathering, held in a village in Hathras, Uttar Pradesh, on Tuesday, drew hundreds of thousands of devotees to see Bole Baba, a popular self-styled guru.
Officials said the size of the crowd that had gathered to offer prayers to Baba, whose real name is Narayan Sakar Vishwa Hari, was three times the 50,000 allowed by authorities.
Police reports said the clashes occurred when a large crowd surged forward, trying to touch the guru’s feet or the ground where he had been standing, and organisers used force to stop people from evacuating from the road to safety.
Witnesses said rain had also started to fall, and that the crowds and high humidity had caused people to slip and fall, many of them women and children. The death toll on Tuesday rose to 121.
“The uncontrollable crowd came out of the venue, crushing devotees who were sitting on the ground,” the police report said.
“On the other side of the road, the crowd running through a field full of water and mud was forcibly stopped by the organising committee with sticks, so that the pressure of the crowd kept building up and women, children and men kept getting crushed.”
Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath ordered an investigation into the deaths and Prime Minister Narendra Modi said he would “provide support in every possible way” to the victims.
Police said a case has been registered against the organisers of the event and Baba Vishwa Hari is also expected to be arrested later on Wednesday, but police are still trying to locate him.
Neither the organisers nor the guru have issued a statement about the deadly clash.
The guru, who reportedly was a police officer before becoming a self-proclaimed spiritual leader, has been holding such meetings regularly in his local village for years.
Families of the dead and missing gathered at the hospital and morgue in Hathras, desperate for answers and to find the bodies of their loved ones.
Vikas Kumar, whose grandmother was one of the victims, told The Indian Express that after the Guru left, people stormed in and tried to grab the soil from the spot where he had stood.
later Satsang Once the work was completed, people started leaving in groups but as it was raining, many slipped and fell, almost getting crushed,” Kumar said.
India has seen numerous incidents of crowds gathering during religious events and pilgrimages in recent years, and Rajesh Kumar Jha, a member of parliament, questioned why deaths continue to occur, saying “people will continue to die” unless authorities take safety measures seriously enough.
