A massive crowd surge during the annual Rath Yatra in Odisha’s Puri town on Thursday left two devotees dead and more than 100 others injured after authorities were overwhelmed by the influx of hundreds of thousands of pilgrims.
The crowd crush occurred along the Grand Road shortly after the start of the Rath Yatra, an annual festival in which deities are pulled on towering wooden chariots.
Police said one person died and several others were injured in a stampede-like situation that briefly erupted after the ceremonial Pahandi procession of the deities concluded. Devotees began pushing and shoving near Marichikot Square, close to the Puri District Headquarters Hospital, causing people to fall over one another in the densely packed crowd.
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A 60-year-old person lost consciousness during the crush and was taken to the hospital, where doctors declared him dead.
{{/usCountry}}A 60-year-old person lost consciousness during the crush and was taken to the hospital, where doctors declared him dead.
{{/usCountry}}In an unrelated incident, another person, identified as Anil Das, 35, collapsed after reportedly suffering breathlessness in the crowd near a police barricade, about 100 feet from the cordon. He was rushed to the Puri District Headquarters Hospital, where doctors declared him dead on arrival.
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Officials said more than 100 devotees were hospitalised in the incident. Police personnel and volunteers deployed along the route rescued the injured and shifted them to the district hospital, where they are undergoing treatment.
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An eyewitness said the incident unfolded at around 1 pm, soon after the deities were carried to their chariots. “It appears one person fell first, triggering the incident. There was complete chaos, and around 100 people fell on top of each other. At least four persons suffered fractures in their limbs,” he said.
The incident took place despite elaborate security and crowd management arrangements for the Rath Yatra. Last year, three devotees, including two women, were killed and dozens injured in a stampede at Saradhabali near the Gundicha Temple after a truck carrying sacred wood entered the crowd on June 29.
Expressing his grief over the incident, former Odisha chief minister Naveen Patnaik wrote on X: “I am deeply saddened to learn about the loss of devotees’ lives in the crowd during the Rath Yatra on the Grand Road. I pray for eternal peace for the departed souls and wish a speedy recovery to the hundreds of devotees who were injured. At this difficult time, all workers of the Biju Janata Dal will extend every possible assistance. I hope the state government ensures proper crowd management so that the convenience and safety of devotees are adequately protected.”
The incident came on a day when lakhs of devotees thronged Puri despite incessant rain, as the coastal town received more than 200 mm of rainfall in the previous 45 hours. Water accumulated up to knee level on several stretches of the Grand Road, but pilgrims continued to throng in large numbers.
The pulling of the chariots began at around 5 pm, about an hour behind schedule, after the traditional Chhera Pahara ritual performed by Gajapati Maharaja Dibya Singha Deb. Lord Balabhadra’s Taladhwaja chariot was pulled first, followed by those of Lord Jagannath and Goddess Subhadra, as chants of “Jai Jagannath” echoed across the rain-soaked Bada Danda.
The annual Rath Yatra marks the ceremonial three-kilometre journey of Lord Jagannath, accompanied by his elder brother, Lord Balabhadra, and sister, Goddess Subhadra, from the 12th-century Jagannath Temple to the Gundicha Temple aboard massive wooden chariots.