Three Killed, Over 20 Injured in Stampede at Durga Puja Pandal in Bihar

At a Durga Puja pandal in Bihar on Monday night, there was a stampede that resulted in the deaths of three people, including a child, and the injuries of almost twenty more.

About 150 kilometers northwest of Patna, in Raja Dal in Gopalganj, the tragedy happened at 7:30 p.m.

Twenty people were hurt, six of them are very ill and have been sent to hospitals in Gorakhpur, Uttar Pradesh, for further care.

"At the puja pandal, a youngster among the throng collapsed. They both attempted to rescue him.
The throng tramped all over them. They also had respiratory difficulties. By the time they were taken to a hospital, all three had passed away, Gopalganj district magistrate Nawal Kishor Choudhary said reporters.

Aayush Kumar, age 5, Urmila Devi, age 55, and Shanti Devi, age 60, were the dead.

Following the killings, the district government began regulating the flow of worshippers at the pandals.

Puja committees were instructed by Choudhary to conduct Dashmi programs only on Tuesdays between 9 a.m. and 4 p.m.

He gave the order to look into the stampede. The investigation team will be led by Gopalganj Sadar Subdivisional Officer (SDO) Pradeep Kumar.

Video footage captured at the scene before the stampede reveals that no crowd control measures nor efforts were made to direct the flow of the mob at the pandal.

"There weren't enough police officers stationed at the location. The situation quickly got out of hand as the number of individuals increased, according to a source.

Although it just made the chaos worse, several video recordings also show a few young people and police officers using lathis to subdue the mob.

The number of pandal hoppers at Raja Dal, according to Choudhary, "swelled up to 5 lakh," and their pace was sluggish since many of them—especially the younger ones—had been spending time snapping pictures and making movies.