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Around 100 people have died in a stampede that broke out during a religious gathering in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh. India.
The incident took place during a gathering in the town of Hathras, where police said there was a large gathering of people.
Bodies have piled up in the area and a local official, Chaitra V., has raised the death toll to 107 with another 18 people being treated for injuries in local hospitals, according to the DPA news agency.
The crowd had come to attend prayers organised by a cleric, Narayan Sakar Hari, also known as Bhole Baba. The turnout was apparently higher than expected, an aide told India Today.
“We tried to leave after Baba had left, but There was a ditch with mud and some people slipped, while others stepped over it and still others fell,” explains a witness who had attended the event from a nearby town.
State Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has ordered the creation of a commission to investigate what happened and has offered his condolences to the citizens.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has also offered his condolences, with aid of 200,000 rupees (just over 2,300 dollars) to the families of those killed in the stampede.