{"id":22344,"date":"2016-10-17T09:08:31","date_gmt":"2016-10-17T03:38:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/globalpress.hinduismnow.org?p=22341&preview_id=22341"},"modified":"2016-10-17T09:08:31","modified_gmt":"2016-10-17T03:38:31","slug":"stampede-kills-24-hindu-pilgrims-in-ancient-indian-city-of-varanasi","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/globalpress-new.hinduismnow.org\/?p=22344","title":{"rendered":"Stampede kills 24 Hindu pilgrims in ancient Indian city of Varanasi | Reuters"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

At least 24 people died and dozens more were hurt in a stampede in the ancient northern Indian city of Varanasi on Saturday, officials said.<\/p>\n

Panic spread as thousands of Hindu pilgrims tried to cross a bridge to a sacred site in one of the world\u2019s oldest inhabited cities, at the heart of the home constituency of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.<\/p>\n

\u201cRumours about the bridge collapse led to chaos after a man fell down in a crowd,\u201d said police officer Javeed Ahmad.<\/p>\n

The organisers had sought permission for a gathering of just about 5,000 people, but when the crowds started pouring in, they went far beyond 70,000 to 80,000<\/p>\n

Police official<\/p>\n

The incident occurred when thousands of followers of deceased Godman Baba Jai Gurudev were on their way to Domri village in a remote corner of Varanasi district to take part in the two-day ritual at a camp on the Ganges, Varanasi district magistrate Vijay Kiron Anand said.<\/p>\n

Millions of Hindus go to Varanasi every year to pray and wash away their sins by taking a dip in the sacred river Ganges.<\/p>\n

Modi, who was hosting a meeting of BRICS nations in the state of Goa, expressed his condolences to the victims\u2019 families and promised help.<\/p>\n

Local police claimed that the stampede occurred because the number of devotees went far beyond their estimates.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe organisers had sought permission for a gathering of just about 5,000 people, but when the crowds started pouring in, they went far beyond 70,000 to 80,000, thereby making it difficult for police on duty,\u201d a local police official said.<\/p>\n

Deadly stampedes are common at India\u2019s big pilgrimages and religious festivals. In 2008, 145 people died when a panicking crowd pushed people over a ravine in north India. In 2013 a crowd rush at a railway station killed at least 36 Hindu pilgrims, attending a festival.<\/p>\n

Last July, at least 27 were killed and dozens more injured in a stampede at a Hindu festival in south India and in August 10 more died in a similar incident in the eastern state of Jharkhand.<\/p>\n

Ravindra Sharma, who was hurt in the stampede on Saturday, said his teenage daughter was missing and the authorities were unable to trace her.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe came to seek the blessings of our God. Only God can help me find her,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

At least 24 people died and dozens more were hurt in a stampede in the ancient northern Indian city of Varanasi on Saturday, officials said. Panic spread as thousands of Hindu pilgrims tried to cross a bridge to a sacred site in one of the world\u2019s oldest inhabited cities, at the heart of the home […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":19,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/globalpress-new.hinduismnow.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22344"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/globalpress-new.hinduismnow.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/globalpress-new.hinduismnow.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalpress-new.hinduismnow.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/19"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalpress-new.hinduismnow.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=22344"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/globalpress-new.hinduismnow.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22344\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/globalpress-new.hinduismnow.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=22344"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalpress-new.hinduismnow.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=22344"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalpress-new.hinduismnow.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=22344"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}