At least nine people have been killed and 10 others injured in a
stampede during a Hindu religious bathing festival in southern India, a
government official has said.
The stampede occurred in Rajahmundry in Andhra Pradesh state as tens of
thousands of people pushed forward to bathe in the Godavari River during the
Pushkaralu festival, said Arun Kumar, a state administrator.
The melee was triggered by some women pilgrims who were trying to
retrieve their shoes, which had fallen off in the rush to the river bank,
police said.
Rajahmundry is 450km east of Hyderabad, the joint capital of Andhra
Pradesh and newly created Telangana state. Nearly 24 million people are
expected to take part in the 12-day festival along the Godavari River flowing
through the two states.
Festival participants believe a bath in the river can rid them of their
sins.
Deadly stampedes are fairly common during Indian religious festivals,
where large crowds gather in small areas with few safety or crowd control
measures.
In October 2013, a stampede in Madhya Pradesh state in central India
killed more than 110 people, mostly women and children.
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