Woman dies in Tirupati stampede, husband finds out from viral video: ‘We looked desperately…’

Shanthi was among the six people who died in the stampede at Tirupati on Wednesday. Her husband Venkatesh found out about her death from a viral video.

Updated on: Jan 09, 2025 11:57 AM IST

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Six people died and several others were injured in the Tirupati stampede incident on Wednesday. Among those who died was Shanthi, a woman from Visakhapatnam who had travelled to Tirupati temple with her husband and son on the occasion of Vaikuntha Ekadashi.

A stampede-like situation occurred at Vishnu Nivasam during the distribution of Tirumala Srivari Vaikuntha Dwara Darshan tokens, in Tirupati on Wednesday. Reportedly, four devotees died in the incident. (ANI) (HT_PRINT)

However, what should have been a joyous trip for the family took a tragic turn on late Wednesday, when Shanthi lost her life in the stampede. According to NDTV, Shanthi, her husband Venkatesh, and their son had lined up near the Vishnu Niwasam at Tirupati to collect tokens for the special 'darshan'.

At one point, another woman in the queue started feeling unwell. Chaos unfolded when authorities opened a gate to bring the woman outside. Hundreds of devotees, thinking that the gate had opened for tokens, tried to exit, leading to the stampede.

“We desperately looked in hospitals”

Shanthi was among the six people who died in the stampede at Tirupati.

Her husband Venkatesh found out about her death from a viral video.

"The police management was very poor. My wife was ahead in the queue. We did not even realise that she had fallen. After the stampede, we desperately looked for her at hospitals, but we could not locate her. We found out about her death from a viral video," he told NDTV.

Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu has called a review meeting on Thursday after six people were killed in the Tirupati stampede, a Telugu Desam Party (TDP) spokesperson said.

CM Chandrababu Naidu is also due to meet the families of the deceased later in the day.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi also expressed his condolences. "Pained by the stampede in Tirupati, Andhra Pradesh. My thoughts are with those who have lost their near and dear ones," PM Modi wrote on X.

(Also read: 'When police opened the gates…': Eyewitness recounts Tirupati stampede horror)

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Sanya Jain
Sanya Jain is an Assistant Editor with Hindustan Times Digital. She has nearly a decade of experience in covering offbeat stories that speak to the everyday experience - from viral videos to human interest copies that spark conversation. Her interests stretch across business, pop culture, social media trends, entertainment and global affairs. Before joining Hindustan Times, Sanya spent two years with Moneycontrol and five years with NDTV. She holds an undergraduate degree in English literature from St Stephen’s College, Delhi, and a master’s in journalism from the Xavier Institute of Communications, Mumbai. Sanya has a sharp eye for spotting emerging trends and looking for newsworthy angles to elevate viral posts into meaningful narratives. She was the first one, for example, to cover Narayana Murthy’s remark on 70-hour work weeks that sparked a national conversation. She is equally at ease writing about business leaders as about the common man, about issues of national importance and memes that amuse social media. Sanya enjoys speaking with content creators, newsmakers and entrepreneurs to transform everyday moments into engaging, slice-of-life stories that resonate with readers. When she is not working, Sanya can be found curled up with a good book. Born and raised in Lucknow, she has spent the last several years in Delhi. She is deeply interested in animal welfare and now spends a lot of her time running after her destructive orange cat.Read More

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