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Over 100 dead in temple stampede in India
October 14, 2013, 4:28 am

Local media reports are saying most victims who died on the bridge, crushed by other devotees were children [AP Images]

Local media reports are saying most victims who died on the bridge, crushed by other devotees were children [AP Images]

The death toll in a stampede during a religious festival in India has reached 109, with hundreds reported injured.

The state government has now ordered a judicial inquiry into the incident.

The stampede occurred on a bridge outside a Hindu temple in Datia district of the central Indian state of Madhya Pradesh.

The mishap was triggered by rumours that a river bridge the devotees were crossing was about to collapse.

Local media reports are saying most victims who died on the bridge, crushed by other devotees were children.

“Many people are feared to have fallen into the river and are unaccounted for,” said D K Arya, Datia Deputy Police Inspector General.

Datia district Chief Medical Officer (CMO) R S Gupta said autopsies on 109 bodies were conducted till late tonight.

Over 150,000 people had come to worship at the Ratangarh temple for the Navaratri (nine nights) festival, one of the major Hindu festivals in northern and central India. It symbolises the triumph of good over evil.

Source: Agencies