- विज्ञापन -
Puri, June 29: There was a stampede after the Jagannath Rath Yatra in Puri, Odisha at around 4 am on Sunday. In this, 3 people died, while 50 are injured. The condition of 6 of the injured is critical.
The accident took place in front of the Gundicha temple, about 3 km away from the Jagannath temple. A huge crowd had gathered here to see Lord Jagannath’s Nandighosha chariot, during which the stampede occurred.
The deceased were identified as Basanti Sahu (36), Prem Kanti Mohanty (78) and Prabhati Das. All the bodies have been kept at Puri Medical College.
The accident happened when a huge crowd had gathered to see the chariots. During this, a stampede occurred and people were crushed by the falling debris. It is being said that adequate police or security forces were not deployed at the place where the stampede occurred.
The chariots of Lord Balabhadra and Subhadra had already reached Shraddhabali (end point). Later, the chariot of Lord Jagannath reached his aunt’s place, Gundicha temple.
Hundreds of devotees fell ill on Friday
Earlier on Friday (27 June), the health of 625 devotees deteriorated due to the increasing pressure of the crowd around the chariot of Devi Subhadra. According to the administration, 70 were admitted to the hospital. Out of these, the condition of 9 is critical.
Over one million devotees gather for Rath Yatra
Around one million devotees are estimated to have converged on this town for the annual car festival, officials said.
The chariot pulling started after Puri’s titular king, Gajapati Maharaja Divyasingha Deb, performed ‘Chhera Pahanra’ (sweeping of chariots) on all three chariots. Wooden horses of different colours were fitted on three chariots before they were pulled by the devotees.
Earlier, the trinity- Lord Balabhadra, Devi Subhadra and Lord Jagannath had ascended their respective chariots after over two-hour long ceremonial ‘Pahandi’ ritual here on Friday. During ‘Pahandi’, the three wooden idols were carried to the chariots from the 12th-century Jagannath temple.
