Death toll in Indian stampede at religious event reaches 116

Incident occurred when a crowd of devotees started pushing towards the stage after the event to touch the preacher

NEW DELHI:

At least 116 people, many of them women and children, were killed in a stampede at a Hindu religious gathering in northern India on Tuesday, authorities said, in one of the country's worst such tragedies in years.

The stampede happened in a village in Hathras district in Utter Pradesh, about 200 km (125 miles) southeast of the national capital New Delhi, where authorities said thousands had gathered in sweltering late afternoon temperatures.

The stampede occurred when a crowd of devotees started pushing towards the stage after the event to touch the preacher, who was coming down, said Yogi Adityanath, chief minister of Uttar Pradesh, India's most populous state.

While the cause was not immediately clear, Hathras district administrator Ashish Kumar suggested it may have been "due to overcrowding at the time when people were trying to leave the venue".

Another senior state official, Chaitra V., told broadcaster India Today that people may have lost their footing as they sought water in the heat.

"There was wet mud at one place where people may have slipped. Also because of the heat, people may have made their way to the spot where water was kept and that could have caused the incident as well," she said, adding that 18 were injured and in hospital.

Police said they had launched an investigation and promised action against anyone found to be responsible, adding that the gathering may have been larger than had been permitted.

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"Lapses by authorities will also be investigated and action will be taken on the basis of the report which will be available within 24 hours," state police chief Prashant Kumar said.

Video clips recorded by news agency ANI, in which Reuters has a minority stake, showed bodies piled into the back of trucks and laid out in vehicles.

Purses and bags covered in dust, were heaped up at the venue, with people sitting on their haunches sifting through them to identify their belongings.

Police said they had launched an investigation and promised action against anyone found to be responsible, adding that the gathering may have been larger than had been permitted.

"Lapses by authorities will also be investigated and action will be taken on the basis of the report which will be available within 24 hours," state police chief Prashant Kumar said.

Video clips recorded by news agency ANI, in which Reuters has a minority stake, showed bodies piled into the back of trucks and laid out in vehicles.

Purses and bags covered in dust, were heaped up at the venue, with people sitting on their haunches sifting through them to identify their belongings.