Deadly crush at Kolkata's biggest festival

Crowd surged after sudden rain

10 organizers detained for questioning

Relatives of victims of the Durga Puja festival stampede weep outside the emergency room of Calcutta Medical College and Hospital in Kolkata, India, on Saturday. [AFP]
Relatives of victims of the Durga Puja festival stampede weep outside the emergency room of Calcutta Medical College and Hospital in Kolkata, India, on Saturday. [AFP]

A stampede at a Hindu festival in India killed 19 people and injured 25 after a sudden rainstorm triggered a deadly crush in the crowd.

The incident occurred Saturday at a venue hosting the Hindu festival of Durga Puja in Kolkata, West Bengal state, in eastern India, according to AFP and China's state-run Xinhua news agency.

West Bengal Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari said 19 people were killed, including a 7-year-old girl, and 25 were injured, adding that one of the wounded was in critical condition.

A senior local police official told AFP that the chaos broke out after rain began falling at night. "The crowd pushed and pulled against each other, surged forward and fell to the ground, causing the stampede," the official said.

Footage filmed before the accident on Saturday showed a massive crowd packed into a zone with a narrow passage that could only accommodate a few people at a time, according to Indian newspaper The Indian Express.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi expressed his condolences in a statement posted on Facebook. "This is truly heartbreaking," he wrote. "I extend my deepest sympathies to the bereaved families."

Police secured closed-circuit television footage from the festival site and detained 10 people, including organizers and private security personnel, for further investigation into the exact circumstances of the accident.

Chief Minister Adhikari said there had been "some shortcomings in the organizers' preparations" and warned that "anyone found to be at fault will face legal action."

Durga Puja is Kolkata's biggest festival, held in honor of the Hindu goddess Durga. During the festival, large crowds of devotees flock to "pandals" — temporary structures housing effigies of the goddess.

India, the world's most populous country with about 1.47 billion people, has a recurring problem with stampedes at crowded public venues such as religious sites and festival grounds.

Last January, more than 30 people were killed in a stampede at the Kumbh Mela, the world's largest religious gathering and a major Hindu festival. In June of the same year, 11 people died and about 40 were injured when hundreds of thousands of fans flooded the streets to celebrate a cricket championship victory.

Earlier, on Tuesday, 13 children heading to a Hindu festival drowned when a boat capsized on the Ganges River in the Vaishali district of Bihar state, eastern India.


jiyun@heraldcorp.com