By IANS
Hyderabad : At least six people were killed and 15 others injured in a stampede Thursday at the Sri Durga Malleswara Swamyvarla temple on Indirakiladri hill in Andhra Pradesh’s Vijayawada town, police officials said.
Those killed include four women and a child. The injured have been admitted to a government hospital in Vijayawada, about 280 km east of state capital Hyderabad.
Police said the mishap occurred around 5 a.m. during the annual Bhavani Diksha rituals at the temple. More than 100,000 devotees had congregated on the hill for the last day of the rituals.
The dead have been identified as Rambabu, 8, Lakshmi, 23, Eshwaramma, 46, Ramulamma, 60, Sunita, 38, and K.C. Babu, 21, hailing from different parts of Andhra Pradesh.
Vijayawada police commissioner C.V. Anand said the stampede occurred when thousands of devotees on the narrow Durga Gudi road tried to surge towards the temple to look at the idol of goddess Kanaka Durga.
He said police had warned the temple authorities on several occasions that lack of proper arrangements could lead to a tragedy but they failed to take necessary precautions. He pointed out that the movement of devotees was limited to one road on the hill, leading to chaos during the rituals.
Minister for Endowments J. Ratnakar Rao said the large turnout of devotees led to the accident.
“The turnout was more than expected and as a result the arrangements proved inadequate, leading to the stampede,” he said.
The minister has announced a compensation of Rs.100,000 each to the kin of those killed and Rs.10,000 to each of the injured.
The minister also announced a probe by the endowments commissioner into the incident.
Vijayawada MP L. Rajagopal and legislator D. Nehru met the injured in the hospital.
The temple near the river Krishna attracts thousands of devotees from all over Andhra Pradesh and neighbouring states.