At least six killed in crowd crush at Hindu temple in India's Haridwar
The incident at the Mansa Devi Temple in Haridwar city occurred on Sunday after a high-voltage electric wire reportedly fell on a temple path, triggering panic among the large crowd of devotees.
'The sight of the wire falling caused immediate panic, and a desperate scramble to escape led to the stampede,' local police official Ritesh Saha told The Times of India newspaper.
Vinay Shankar Pandey, a senior government official in Uttarakhand, confirmed the deaths. Hospital officials said one person was electrocuted, while others died in the ensuing stampede, Indian media reports said.
Police and emergency services rushed to the scene after the incident and launched a rescue operation. Nearly 35 injured people were transported to a nearby hospital, officials said.
'The situation is now under control,' Pandey told The Associated Press news agency by phone from Haridwar. 'But the panic led to tragic consequences.'
Authorities are investigating what caused the overhead wire to collapse and whether proper crowd management protocols were in place. The temple town draws millions of visitors each year.
'It is extremely distressing to receive news of a stampede on the route to the Mansa Devi Temple in Haridwar,' Uttarakhand's Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami posted on X.
Crowd surges at religious gatherings are not uncommon in India, where massive groups often congregate at temples or pilgrimage sites, sometimes overwhelming local infrastructure and security measures.
In June, a sudden crowd surge at a Hindu festival in the coastal state of Odisha triggered a stampede that killed at least three people and injured several others. The previous month saw six people crushed to death in the western state of Goa after thousands gathered for a popular fire-walking ritual.
In January, at least 30 people were killed in an early morning crush at the Kumbh Mela, a Hindu mega-festival in Uttar Pradesh state's Prayagraj district.
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