Dead, 5 Injured in Stampede at Rath Yatra in Puri

Lakhs of devotees from across the country and overseas descended on the pilgrim town of Puri in Odisha to witness commencement of the nine-day journey of the new idols of Lord Jagannath, Lord Balabhadra and Devi Subhadra to Gundicha Temple and back to their abode.

However, director general of police Sanjeev Marik denied that the deaths were caused by stampede and pointed out that there were no external injury marks on the bodies. Almost two million devotees streamed into Puri for the highly regarded festival of Hindu god Jagannath with at least one million congregating on the main road leading to the Jagannath temple, which made it hard for the chariots to reach their venue on time. Around 10 people were injured in these two incidents.

However, eyewitnesses said there was a stampede when the Taladhwaj moved.

It had slowed down the speed of the first chariot Taladhwaja of Balabhadra which effected pulling of other two chariots for lack of road clearance, opined Kasinath, who was earlier associated with the chariot pulling arrangements. They were Susila Samantray (70) wife of Daitari Samantray of Barapada village under the Pattamundai police station limits of Kendrapada district, and Nirmala Baral (50) wife of Seshadhar Baral of Madhyakhand under Sarankul police station limits of Nayagarh district.

The injured have been shifted to Sriram Chandra Bhanja (SCB) Medical College & Hospital, the state’s biggest government-run health facility in Cuttack. Of them, four are in the intensive care unit (ICU), said the emergency officer of the hospital.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi sent a letter as well as the traditional offering (prasad) of green gram (moong), blackberries (jamun) and mangoes to the Jagannath temple on Friday, on the occasion of Lord Jagannath ” s 138th Rath Yatra (chariot procession ritual) to be held on Saturday. “The close relatives would get the insurance amount based on the reports”, said Mohapatra. On Tuesday, 27 people were killed and dozens were injured during a Hindu bathing festival in the southern Andhra Pradesh state.