Bodies lay scattered at a medical centre in Uttar Pradesh’s Hathras district on Tuesday as people milled around them, wiping away tears and consoling one another. The heartbreaking scenes unfolded outside the district’s Sikandara Rao Trauma Centre, where victims, dead or unconscious, of the stampede that occurred at a ‘satsang’ in Phulrai village, were brought in ambulances, trucks and cars.
A woman sat crying among five or six bodies in a truck, urging people to help her get the body of her daughter out of the vehicle. A video clip showed a man and a woman lying lifeless in a different vehicle. Many of the injured were seen lying near the entrance of the local government hospital surrounded by anxious relatives. Locals blamed the administration’s negligence for the tragedy.
As the day went by, the official estimate of the fatalities jumped and the crowds outside the trauma centre and the mortuary swelled. Late evening, Aligarh Range Inspector General of Police Shalabh Mathur put the death toll at 116. Several more were injured.
“There are almost 100-200 casualties and there was only one doctor at the hospital. There was no facility for oxygen. Some are still breathing but there are no proper treatment facilities,” an agitated youth said outside the hospital.
Eyewitness Shakuntala Devi told PTI Videos that the stampede took place while people were leaving the venue at the end of the ‘satsang’. “Outside, there was a road built on a height over a drain. People fell atop each other,” she said.
A second eyewitness, Sonu Kumar, said there were at least 10,000 people at the venue and while the guru was leaving many of them rushed to touch his feet. As they were returning, people slipped and fell over one another as parts of the ground had turned boggy with water overflowing from a nearby drain, he added.
Another person who had left the venue before the programme ended said the arrangements made were inadequate for the size of the crowd gathered at the venue. Outside the mortuary in Etah, Kailash said people fell on top of each other due to the slippery mud and the crowd coming from behind crushed them.
Sikandra Rau Sub-Divisional Magistrate Ravendra Kumar said the stampede took place when devotees tried to get a glimpse of the preacher known as Bhole Baba at the end of the event. They also wanted to collect some soil from around the baba’s feet, he told PTI.
Agra’s additional director general of police and Aligarh divisional commissioner are part of a team that would probe into the incident, the state government said. The team has been asked to give its report in 24 hours.
Speaking to media persons, District Magistrate Ashish Kumar said it was a private function for which the permission was granted by the sub-divisional magistrate. The local administration provided security outside the venue while the internal arrangement was to be looked after by the organisers, he added.
Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath expressed condolences to the families of those killed in the stampede and instructed officials to reach the accident site and carry out relief measures.
The Prime Minister’s Office announced an ex gratia compensation of Rs 2 lakh from the Prime Minister’s National Relief Fund for the next of kin of each person killed in the stampede. The injured would be given Rs 50,000.
Adityanath made a similar announcement. The Uttar Pradesh government said an FIR will be registered against the organisers of the programme.
The chief minister also directed the district administration to arrange for proper treatment of those injured and immediately take them to hospitals. He wished them a speedy recovery.
