At
least nine people have been killed and 10 others injured in a stampede
during a Hindu religious bathing festival in southern India, a
government official has said.
The
stampede occurred in Rajahmundry in Andhra Pradesh state as tens of
thousands of people pushed forward to bathe in the Godavari River during
the Pushkaralu festival, said Arun Kumar, a state administrator.
The
melee was triggered by some women pilgrims who were trying to retrieve
their shoes, which had fallen off in the rush to the river bank, police
said.
Rajahmundry
is 450km east of Hyderabad, the joint capital of Andhra Pradesh and
newly created Telangana state. Nearly 24 million people are expected to
take part in the 12-day festival along the Godavari River flowing
through the two states.
Festival participants believe a bath in the river can rid them of their sins.
Deadly
stampedes are fairly common during Indian religious festivals, where
large crowds gather in small areas with few safety or crowd control
measures.
In October 2013, a stampede in Madhya Pradesh state in central India killed more than 110 people, mostly women and children.
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