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Six people were crushed to death at a Hindu temple in India’s coastal state of Goa, Hindu temple in India’s coastal state of Goa officials said Saturday, after thousands gathered for a popular fire-walking ritual.
Goa Chief Minister Pramod Sawant said in a statement that he was “deeply saddened by the tragic stampede” at Lairai Devi temple in the village of Shirgao in the early hours of Saturday morning.
“Six people died even before they could be brought to the hospital,” Sawant told reporters.
He visited the hospital and said that “all possible support” would be given to the families of those killed or injured.
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Vishwajit Rane, Goa state health minister said “approximately 80” people were injured.
“Five are critical and on ventilator support, while the remaining are being treated in the specially created emergency ward,” he said.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s office expressed “condolences to those who lost their loved ones”.
The Lairai Zatra is a key Hindu celebration in Goa and is marked by a fire-walking ceremony.
Deadly stampedes are notoriously common in Indian religious festivals.
Earlier this year, at least 30 people were killed in an early morning crush at the Kumbh Mela, a Hindu mega-festival in the northern city of Prayagraj.
“The unfortunate incident… has claimed the lives of six devotees. I pray to god to give peace to the departed souls,” Prem Kumar Jain, spokesman of the state’s ruling Telugu Desam Party, told reporters.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi offered condolences to the families of the deceased.
“My thoughts are with those who have lost their near and dear ones,” his office said on social media platform X.
In July last year, 121 people were killed in northern Uttar Pradesh state during a Hindu religious gathering.
Another 112 people died in 2016 after a huge explosion caused by a banned fireworks display marking the Hindu New Year at a temple in southern Kerala state.
Wednesday’s incident comes days before the start of the Kumbh Mela, a six-week Hindu festival of prayer and sacred bathing expected to be the largest religious gathering in history.
Up to 400 million pilgrims are expected to attend, according to organisers.
