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‘There was a brawl…’: Eyewitness recalls Bihar stampede horror
At least seven people died, and nine others were injured in a stampede at Baba Siddhanath Temple in Bihar on Monday.
An eyewitness, who was at the Baba Siddhnath Temple in Bihar's Jehanabad district just minutes before the stampede that killed seven people on Monday, recalled the horror. According to the eyewitness, identified as Manoj, the incident occurred after a flower seller engaged in a fight, leading to a brawl.
“Had the administration worked well, the flower seller would not have picked a fight. There was a brawl. It happened right before us. So many of us were trapped there…someone pulled me out of there,” Manoj, who suffered a few injuries, told the media.
He said that had he been stuck at the temple for another minute or two, he would have died.
“The incident happened due to a stampede. The police were nowhere to be seen at the spot; they were deployed along the route,” Manoj added.
7 dead, nine injured in stampede
At least seven people died, and nine others were injured in a stampede at Baba Siddhanath Temple in Bihar during the early hours of Monday. The incident took place at the Vanavar hill of Makhdumpur block area.
The injured persons were rushed to hospitals in Makhdumpur and Jehanabad, the police said.
Also read: ‘What has to happen will happen’: Bhole Baba on 121 stampede deaths
According to the district magistrate of Jehanbad, Alankrita Pandey, the situation is now under control.
“DM and SP visited the spot, and they are taking stock of the situation...A total of seven people have died...We are meeting and inquiring about the family members (of the people dead and injured)...We are trying to identify the people (who have died), after this we will send the bodies for post-mortem,” Divakar Kumar Vishwakarma, SHO Jehanabad, told ANI.
Further investigation is underway.
The incident came just weeks after over 120 people died in a stampede during a religious congregation at Uttar Pradesh's Hathras on July 2. According to the police, over 2.5 lakh devotees had gathered in Hathras district's Phulrai village for the 'Satsang' conducted by Baba Narayan Hari, who is also known as Saakar Vishwahari and Bhole Baba. However, the organisers had secured the permission of a gathering of only 80,000 people.
(With inputs from ANI)
