Three killed, 6 injured in stampede at Indian chariot festival
Three killed, 6 injured in stampede at Indian chariot festival
BHUBANESWAR, India - Three people were killed and six injured in a stampede during a festival in eastern India on June 29, officials said.
'Three people have died and six sustained injuries; none of them are serious and all are out of danger,' said Odisha's director-general of police Y.B. Khurania.
The incident occurred at dawn as thousands of Hindu devotees gathered at an annual chariot festival in Puri, a senior administrative officer told Reuters.
He asked not to be identified as he is not authorised to speak to the media.
Stampedes occur routinely during large Hindu gatherings in the world's most populous country, as huge crowds gather in tight spaces, often ignoring safety protocols.
In January, at least 39 people were killed in a pre-dawn stampede during the Maha Kumbh Mela in Prayagraj, northern India. REUTERS
Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Straits Times
32 minutes ago
- Straits Times
Ecuador court orders 13 more years in prison for former VP Glas
FILE PHOTO: Ecuadorean Vice President Jorge Glas reacts as he arrives to court, to attend his trial on bribery from Brazilian construction company Odebrecht, in Quito, Ecuador, December 13, 2017. REUTERS/Daniel Tapia/File Photo Ecuador court orders 13 more years in prison for former VP Glas QUITO - An Ecuadorean court on Monday sentenced former vice president Jorge Glas to 13 additional years in prison for misusing public funds allocated to rebuild areas affected by a devastating 2016 earthquake. Glas, 55, is currently in prison serving out convictions in two prior corruption cases and had been due for release in little under three years, but the latest sentence would extend his incarceration until 2041. Carlos Bernal, a former official tasked with leading the reconstruction work in the western Manabi and Esmeraldas provinces, was also given 13 more years. The court said it had applied the maximum possible sentence. The funds for the reconstruction had been raised through taxes, and a judge in the case said there were indications Glas committed embezzlement by using funds earmarked for reconstruction for other unrelated projects. Glas' lawyer argued there was no evidence of misappropriation of public funds for personal benefit or that of third parties, nor harm to the national treasury, and said the case is being used as a tool of political persecution. Glas, who served as vice president under Rafael Correa from 2013 to 2017, was captured by Ecuadorean authorities following a raid on the Mexican embassy in Quito last year, which led to the severing of diplomatic ties between Ecuador and Mexico. REUTERS Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.
Straits Times
an hour ago
- Straits Times
Russia jails 'Jesus of Siberia' sect leader for 12 years for harming followers
FILE PHOTO: Vissarion, who has proclaimed himself a new Christ, conducts a service during the \"Holiday of Good Fruit\" feast in a village southeast of Russia's Siberian city of Krasnoyarsk, August 18, 2010. Picture taken August 18, 2010. REUTERS/Ilya Naymushin/File Photo A Russian sect leader who claimed he was Jesus Christ reincarnated was sentenced to 12 years in a prison camp on Monday after being convicted of harming his followers' health and financial affairs. Sergei Torop, a former traffic policeman known to his followers as 'Vissarion', set up the Church of the Last Testament in a remote but picturesque part of Siberia's Krasnoyarsk region in 1991, the year the Soviet Union broke up. A bearded self-styled mystic with long hair, he claimed to have been "reborn" to convey the word of God and attracted thousands of followers, some of whom flocked to live in a settlement known as the "Abode of Dawn" or "Sun City", at a time when Russia was battling poverty and lawlessness. Torop, 64, told his followers, who regularly intoned prayers in his honour as they looked up to his large hilltop residence, not to eat meat, not to smoke, not to drink alcohol or swear, and to stop using money. But the Investigative Committee, Russia's equivalent of the U.S. FBI, accused Torop and two aides of using psychological pressure to extract money from his followers and of causing serious harm to their mental and physical health. In a statement on Monday, a court in the Siberian city of Novosibirsk said it had convicted the three men, sentencing Torop and Vladimir Vedernikov to 12 years and Vadim Redkin to 11 years in a maximum-security prison camp. They were also ordered to pay 40 million roubles ($511,500) to compensate their victims for "moral damage". All three denied wrongdoing. Torop and the two aides were arrested in a security forces raid by helicopter in 2020 that involved the FSB security service, the successor agency to the Soviet KGB. According to the RIA state news agency, investigators said the men had caused "moral harm" to 16 people, serious damage to the physical health of six people, and moderate damage to another person's health. Vedernikov, one of the aides, had also been accused of committing fraud, RIA said. In a 2017 BBC documentary, filmmaker Simon Reeve interviewed Torop, who denied any wrongdoing. The film showed how school girls whose parents were his followers were being educated to be what a local teacher called "future brides for worthy men." REUTERS Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.
Straits Times
2 hours ago
- Straits Times
Jury in Sean 'Diddy' Combs' sex trafficking trial raises concerns about one juror
Sean \"Diddy\" Combs' daughters arrive at court for Sean \"Diddy\" Combs sex trafficking and racketeering conspiracy trial at U.S. court in Manhattan, in New York City, U.S., June 30, 2025. REUTERS/Eduardo Munoz Holly Baird, publicist of Sean \"Diddy\" Combs, arrives at court for Sean \"Diddy\" Combs sex trafficking and racketeering conspiracy trial at U.S. court in Manhattan, in New York City, U.S., June 30, 2025. REUTERS/Eduardo Munoz Sean \"Diddy\" Combs' son Quincy Brown arrives at court for Sean \"Diddy\" Combs sex trafficking and racketeering conspiracy trial at U.S. court in Manhattan, in New York City, U.S., June 30, 2025. REUTERS/Eduardo Munoz U.S. District Judge Arun Subramanian gives legal instructions to the jury, during Sean \"Diddy\" Combs' sex trafficking trial in New York City, New York, U.S., June 30, 2025 in this courtroom sketch. REUTERS/Jane Rosenberg Sean \"Diddy\" Combs passes a note to his attorney Marc Agnifilo as U.S. District Judge Arun Subramanian gives legal instructions to the jury, during Combs' sex trafficking trial in New York City, New York, U.S., June 30, 2025 in this courtroom sketch. REUTERS/Jane Rosenberg Sean \"Diddy\" Combs passes a note to his attorney Marc Agnifilo during Combs' sex trafficking trial in New York City, New York, U.S., June 30, 2025 in this courtroom sketch. REUTERS/Jane Rosenberg NEW YORK - The jury in Sean "Diddy" Combs' sex trafficking trial on Monday asked the judge overseeing the case for guidance as to what to do about one juror who they warned may not be able to follow the judge's instructions about the law. About two hours after the jury began deliberating in Manhattan federal court, U.S. District Judge Arun Subramanian asked prosecutors and Combs' defense lawyers for their suggestions on what he should do in response to the jury note. The note, which Subramanian read aloud in open court, read in part, "We have a juror, number 25, who we are concerned cannot follow your honor's instructions." The note did not elaborate on which instructions the juror cannot follow. The jurors are anonymous, which is not the norm in U.S. criminal trials but is common in high-profile cases in which jurors could face harassment or threats. Combs, 55, has pleaded not guilty to racketeering conspiracy and two counts each of sex trafficking and transportation to engage in prostitution. A former billionaire known for elevating hip-hop in American culture, Combs could be sentenced to life behind bars if convicted on all five counts. Over more than six weeks of testimony, two of Combs' former girlfriends - the rhythm and blues singer Casandra "Cassie" Ventura and a woman known in court by the pseudonym Jane - told jurors that he forced them to take part in the performances with paid male escorts, sometimes known as "Freak Offs," while he watched, masturbated and occasionally filmed. Both women testified that Combs beat them, and jurors saw a hotel surveillance video showing Combs attacking Ventura in a hallway in 2016. "Cassie repeatedly told you that the defendant's violence was in the back of her mind whenever he proposed a Freak Off," prosecutor Christy Slavik said in her closing argument on Thursday. "The whole point was to control Cassie, to make her afraid to say no to the defendant. And it worked." Combs' lawyers acknowledged that he was at times violent in domestic relationships, but argued that Ventura and Jane took part consensually in the performances. During cross-examination, the defense highlighted tender and sexually explicit text messages the women sent Combs over the course of their years-long relationships with him. "If he was charged with domestic violence, we wouldn't all be here," defense lawyer Marc Agnifilo said during his closing argument on Friday. "He did not do the things he's charged with." The founder of Bad Boy Records, Combs lived a lavish lifestyle in his Miami and Los Angeles mansions and was feted for turning artists like Notorious B.I.G. and Usher into stars. He has been held in federal lockup in Brooklyn since his September 2024 arrest. REUTERS Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.
