A stampede at a Hindu temple in northern India’s Jammu and Kashmir territory on New Year’s Eve — allegedly sparked by “a fight between two groups of pilgrims” — killed 12 people and injured 16 others, India’s New Delhi Television (NDTV) reported on Monday.
The incident took place near the Vaishno Devi Temple, located on a hillside in the Trikuta Mountain range. Hindu pilgrims hike approximately eight miles from a basecamp in the town of Katra to reach the shrine. The stampede occurred at approximately 2:30 a.m. local time on January 1 along “a relatively narrow passage at gate number 3 outside the sanctum sanctorum of the shrine where devotees usually arrive round the clock after trekking for 13 km [8 miles] from the Katra base camp [sic],” NDTV detailed on January 3.
“Many eyewitnesses said that there was overcrowding as people were staying back on the shrine premises after darshan [worship] instead of returning to the base camp at Katra,” the news channel’s website revealed.
“Preliminary reports suggest that an argument broke out [among devotees] which resulted in people pushing each other, followed by a stampede,” Jammu and Kashmir Director-General of Police Dilbagh Singh told reporters on January 1.
Four pilgrims wounded in the stampede were admitted to the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) of the local Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Narayana Super Specialty Hospital, J.P. Singh, a senior medic at the hospital, told the Hindu newspaper on Sunday.
Health workers carry the coffin of a victim, who died in a stampede at the Mata Vaishnav Devi shrine, at a hospital in Katra, India, Saturday, Jan. 1, 2022. (AP Photo/Channi Anand)
“More than 27,000 pilgrims had visited the cave shrine on Saturday [January 1], while over 15,000 visited on Sunday [January 2] till 6 PM [sic],” NDTV reported, citing local authorities.
Vaishno Devi Temple is one of the most visited pilgrimage sites in India and typically draws millions of devotees each year. The temple’s officials limited the number of daily visitors to the shrine to 50,000 in recent months due to the ongoing Chinese coronavirus pandemic. A maximum of 35,000 pilgrims were allowed to visit the shrine on both December 31, 2021, and January 1, 2022.
The stampede at Vaishno Devi Temple on January 1 was the first-ever recorded in the shrine’s history, according to NDTV. Katra locals accused the temple’s advisory board on January 1 of welcoming more pilgrims to the site than officially allowed on New Year’s Eve.
“The Shrine Board allowed more pilgrims than the allotted numbers. If ten persons were to be permitted, around 100 were allowed. This [the stampede] was bound to happen,” Ashwani Sharma, a member of the local Katra chapter of Shiv Sena, a right-wing Indian political party, told the Hindu on January 1.
Jammu and Kashmir Lieutenant Gov. Manoj Sinha launched an investigation into the incident on January 2. He visited the temple on Sunday and encouraged the public to “share videos, statements or any other evidence” related to the stampede to assist the ongoing probe, according to NDTV.
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