At least 116 individuals, lots of them girls and youngsters, had been killed in a stampede at a Hindu non secular gathering in northern India on Tuesday, authorities mentioned, in one of many nation’s worst such tragedies in years.

The stampede occurred in a village in Hathras district in Utter Pradesh, about 200 km (125 miles) southeast of the nationwide capital New Delhi, the place authorities mentioned hundreds had gathered in sweltering late afternoon temperatures.

The stampede occurred when a crowd of devotees began pushing in direction of the stage after the occasion to the touch the preacher, who was coming down, mentioned Yogi Adityanath, chief minister of Uttar Pradesh, India’s most populous state.

Whereas the trigger was not instantly clear, Hathras district administrator Ashish Kumar recommended it could have been “resulting from overcrowding on the time when individuals had been attempting to depart the venue”.

One other senior state official, Chaitra V., informed broadcaster India Right now that individuals could have misplaced their footing as they sought water within the warmth.

“There was moist mud at one place the place individuals could have slipped. Additionally due to the warmth, individuals could have made their strategy to the spot the place water was saved and that might have precipitated the incident as properly,” she mentioned, including that 18 had been injured and in hospital.

Police mentioned they’d launched an investigation and promised motion towards anybody discovered to be accountable, including that the gathering could have been bigger than had been permitted.

“Lapses by authorities may also be investigated and motion will probably be taken on the idea of the report which will probably be accessible inside 24 hours,” state police chief Prashant Kumar mentioned.

Video clips recorded by information company ANI, through which Reuters has a minority stake, confirmed our bodies piled into the again of vans and specified by automobiles.

Purses and luggage lined in mud, had been heaped up on the venue, with individuals sitting on their haunches sifting by them to establish their belongings.

Cellphones had been equally piled collectively, ready to be claimed by their homeowners.

A video on social media confirmed a big crowd packed right into a tented space, standing and listening to devotional tunes as they waved their arms within the route of the non secular chief who sat on a stage.

It additionally confirmed some girls hanging on to the bamboo poles holding up the cover to get a greater view above the heads of the massive crowd.

Reuters couldn’t instantly confirm the social media pictures.

“There will need to have been about 50,000 individuals…on the gate on the freeway, some individuals had been going left and a few individuals had been going proper, the stampede was precipitated in that confusion,” Suresh Chandra, a witness who was on the gathering, informed native media.

Seema, a lady who travelled from a city virtually 60 km away to attend the occasion, mentioned she was leaving the venue when the stampede occurred. She was accompanied by three kinfolk, two of whom had been killed.

Stampedes and different accidents involving massive crowds at non secular gatherings and pilgrimage websites have occurred up to now and are sometimes blamed on poor crowd administration.

A stampede in central India in 2013 killed 115 individuals, whereas practically 250 died in 2008 and greater than 340 had been killed throughout an annual pilgrimage within the western state of Maharashtra in 2005, in keeping with native media experiences.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi mentioned the federal authorities was helping the state and introduced a compensation of 200,000 rupees ($2,400) to the households of the useless and 50,000 rupees to these injured.