A stampede in Lord Shiva temple in Doeghar district of Jharkhand killed at least 11 pilgrims and injured over 50 on Monday.
The tragedy happened when hundreds of thousand of these devotees jostled with each other to offer holy water to Lord Shiva. Police said that most of the victims from Uttar Pradesh and Nepal adding that the number of dead may go up.
The devotees, also known as kaanwariyaas, in the month-long Shrawani Mela in August, offer the holy Ganga water to lord Shiva temple mostly on Monday, because it is considered auspicious.
On Monday, more than two lakh devotees were expected to offer puja on Monday. Condolences have begun pouring for this tragedy.
Prime Minister Narendra expressed his condolence on the tragedy. He said he hoped the injured recovered quickly.
Pained at loss of lives due to the stampede in Jharkhand. My thoughts & prayers are with the families of the deceased in this hour of grief
— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) August 10, 2015
I pray that the injured recover quickly. I spoke to CM Raghubar Das ji on the incident.
— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) August 10, 2015
Union home minister Rajnath Singh said he had spoken to Jharkhand CM Raghubar Das, who asked for additional Rapid Action Force deployment.
I spoke to CM Jharkhand Shri Raghubar Das who apprised me of the situation in Deoghar post the stampede & he asked for extra RAF deployment
— Rajnath Singh (@rajnathsingh) August 10, 2015
Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar too said that he was saddened to hear about the tragedy.
Saddened to hear about the tragedy in Jharkhand. My deepest condolences to the families of the victims and those who lost their loved ones.
— Nitish Kumar (@NitishKumar) August 10, 2015
Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi’s tweet read:
Extremely saddened that many devotees lost their lives in a stampede in Deoghar, Jharkhand. My deepest condolences to their families
— Office of RG (@OfficeOfRG) August 10, 2015
The pilgrims carry holy Ganga water from Sultanganj near Bhagalpur in Bihar before covering a distance of almost 1oo kms on feet to offer the water to Lord Shiva at the famous Baba Dham temple.
