Hathras: Bodies lay strewn, anguished wails pierced the air
Stampede at a religious event near Etah Medical College leaves many dead and injured, families in distress. Authorities rush to manage the situation.
The sleepy ambience at Etah Medical College was broken around 3 pm on Tuesday when two bodies of women reached there. In a short span, more bodies reached the medical college, and along came their relatives in panic to identify the dead.
Alarm bells were set ringing with the arrival of the bodies which sent medicos rushing to Medical College of Etah to manage the situation.
The scene was horrifying and heart-rending as bodies lay strewn on the floor. Outnumbering the medical staff at hand were the scattered bodies as people milled around them, looking for their loved ones, wiping away tears and consoling one another.
These were bodies that arrived from site of the Satsang of Bhole Baba, the religious preacher at Phulrai, Mughal Garhi on national highway within limits of Sikandra Rau police station of Hathras district.
Heartbreaking scenes also unfolded outside the district’s Sikandara Rao Trauma Centre, where victims, dead or unconscious, of the stampede, were brought in ambulances, trucks and cars.
A woman sat crying among five or six bodies in a truck, urging people to help her get the body of her daughter out of the vehicle.
Son Devi (35) was unable to find her mother with whom she came to the Satsang. She was not alone on the premises of the Hathras district hospital and there were others searching for missing family members.
Similar was the case with Krishna Kumar, a resident of Vishnu Puri in Hathras city who was searching for his missing wife.
“My wife was not well, yet she was bent upon attending the Satsang. I have no trace of her as yet,” said Krishna Kumar.
Mahendra Singh too was clueless and searching for his wife, Shakuntla Devi and sister-in-law, Sharda Devi, who had been attending Satsang.
“I have rushed to the district hospital but have been unable to find them,” he said and looked for some source to end the search.
Keeping in view the number of those reaching district hospital in Hathras, police was deployed and an alert was sounded.
Many of the injured were seen lying near the entrance of the local government hospital surrounded by anxious relatives. Locals blamed the administration’s negligence for the tragedy.
The scenario was shocking as relatives of those who were searching for missing family members had mixed emotions. Some were shattered to find their loved ones no more, while others moved back to continue searching.
“There are almost 100-200 casualties and there was only one doctor at the hospital. There was no facility for oxygen. Some are still breathing but there is no proper treatment facilities,” an agitated youth said outside the hospital.
An eyewitness, Shakuntala Devi said that the stampede took place while people were leaving the venue at the end of the Satsang.
The stampede apparently occurred due to overcrowding, the Sikandra Rao police station SHO said.
CM Yogi Adityanath directed the district administration to arrange for proper treatment of those injured.
Director general medical and health Dr Brijesh Rathore said, “More medical teams have been already asked to move to Etah from nearby districts to attend to the injured. We are keeping a watch and an additional director level officer is monitoring the situation.
If required, we will arrange for additional doctors, paramedical staff and ambulances as per the requirement.”
(With inputs from PTI)
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