Fatal stampede kills 100 in India
At least 100 pilgrims were killed and around 100 others injured in a deadly stampede that took place in southwestern India on the evening of January 14, local media reported.
The tragedy occurred a little after 8 PM, when a jeep ploughed through a crowd of pilgrims who were returning from a temple after a ritual in a narrow trekking path of the forest in Idukki district of the southwestern state of Kerala.
When the jeep suddenly overturned, it triggered the stampede as the pilgrims ran away, local police said.
An official of Kerala said the overturned jeep crushed some people, and more vehicles behind the jeep slipped, and fell on the pilgrims, triggering the stampede. Many pilgrims were trampled when the huge crowd surged forward after a barricade broke, a witness said.
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There were several thousand pilgrims attending the holy event. Most of them from the neighboring states, such as Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu, said the temple's spokesman.
Kerala's police officer Sanjay Kumar said the death toll had risen to 100, and he feared the casualties could be even higher because of the factors of low visibility and the hilly terrain.
On January 14, 1999, the collapse of a hillock also caused a fatal stampede at the Pamba base camp in Kerala, leaving 53 pilgrims dead.