Three killed and a dozen others hospitalized after crowd surge at eastern India Hindu festival

Three people were killed and more than a dozen hospitalized yesterday following a sudden crowd surge and stampede at a popular Hindu festival in eastern India, local authorities said.

“There was a sudden crowd surge of devotees for having a glimpse of the Hindu deities during which a few people either fainted, felt suffocated or complained of breathlessness,” said Siddharth Shankar Swain, the top government official in Puri.

Swain told The Associated Press that 15 people were rushed to a local government hospital, where three people were pronounced dead. Autopsies are planned to determine the exact causes of death.

The other 12 people have been discharged.

Tens of thousands of devotees gathered in the coastal town early yesterday at Shree Gundicha Temple, near the famous Jagannatha Temple, to catch a glimpse of the deities onboard three chariots, Swain said.

The coastal temple town of Puri comes alive each year with the grand “Rath Yatra,” or chariot festival, in one of the world’s oldest and largest religious processions. The centuries-old festival involves Hindu deities being taken out of the temple and driven in colorfully decorated chariots.