Six dead, 10 injured in Puri's Rath Yatra stampede

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Keywords: Orissa, Puri

Puri: Six people died and ten got injured during a stampede at Puri's Lord Jagannath Rath Yatra that began on Friday.

Sixty-year-old Prasanna Patnaik's visit to Puri to have darshan ended in a tragedy. His wife and sister-in-law are among the six who died in the stampede that took place 30 meters from the three chariots.

Police say stampede occurred when a group of devotees performing kirtan suddenly rushed towards the chariots to see the pihandi ritual.

Patnaik said, “We were having darshan of the chariots when a large crowd pushed us. We all fell down and when I woke up, I found my wife and sister-in-law dead."

Of the ten others who were injured during the stampede, the condition of two is said to serious. The injured were admitted in Cuttack’s SCB Hospital.

Orissa Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, who was also in Puri during the Rath Yatra, has now ordered an enquiry.

“Family of those dead will be given Rs 1 lakh as compensation. I have asked the Revenue Department to investigate the matter," Patnaik said.

The injured were rushed to the district hospital so quickly that most of the devotees who had come to Puri for the Rath Yatra did not even find out about the stampede and the rituals of the three deities went on as per the schedule.