A stampede occurred at the Mansa Devi temple located in Haridwar, Uttarakhand, on Sunday morning at about 9:15. So far 6 people have died. 29 people are injured. Garhwal Division Commissioner Vinay Shankar Pandey said that the accident occurred due to a large crowd gathering at the temple.
Police said that a rumor spread about electric current spreading in the stairs on the way to the temple. This caused panic and people ran away.
Haridwar District Magistrate Mayur Dixit said that the reason for the stampede was that some people spread the rumor that there was electric current in the electric wire there. He said that people were trying to climb up the stairs by pulling the electric wire.
We will investigate who spread the rumor: DM
DM Mayur Dixit said, "We found through photos and videos that someone spread the rumor of a broken electric wire, while we did not get any such indication by looking at the injured or the dead. We will investigate who spread the rumor.
SSP Pramod Singh Doval said - We had received information about 35 people being injured in the stampede at the Mansa Devi temple. These people were immediately brought to the hospital. Of these, 6 people died. The rest of the injured are undergoing treatment.
Akhada Parishad President Mahant Ravindra Puri is the Mahant of Mansa Devi Temple. Ravindra Puri said that this incident did not happen in the temple premises. There are 3 ways to reach the temple. One of the ways became slippery due to rain. Rumors spread due to the devotees slipping and a stampede situation arose. Thousands of people were present in the temple at that time.
We heard pilgrims calling for help: Ujjwal Pandit
Teerth priest Ujjwal Pandit associated with Ganga Sabha said, "This incident happened between 9 and 9:15 am when we heard pilgrims calling for help. Since this is only a walking path, panic and confusion immediately arose. Local traders and residents were initially at a loss to understand what was happening."
"Ambulances arrived soon and we helped the police take the injured away. A boundary wall near the route is also believed to have caused the stampede," he added.
All the pilgrims were asked to go back: Devotee
"From what I saw, around 20 people appeared to be injured," a pilgrim from Uttar Pradesh said. After the incident, the gates of the temple were closed and all the pilgrims were asked to go back."
Mansa Devi Temple is located on Bilva Parvat on the Shivalik Hills in Haridwar. It is located about 3 km from Har-Ki-Pauri and can be reached by a 2 km uphill path or through a ropeway. The road leading to the temple is very narrow. In such a situation, when the stampede occurred, people fell over each other, which led to such a big accident.
Due to Sunday, there is a lot of crowd in the Mansa Devi temple. Today is also the festival of Hariyali Teej. Due to which there was more crowd in the temple today. Eyewitnesses say that suddenly a lot of crowd came, which led to jostling. And then there was a stampede.
During the stampede some people fell on the stairs and due to the lack of a flat surface they kept falling and getting buried.
Prakash Kumar Pandey