A sudden crowd surge occurred during the Rath Yatra chariot festival in Puri, a coastal town in Odisha state, leaving at least one person dead and many others requiring hospitalization. The incident took place as tens of thousands of devotees gathered for the annual religious observance, according to reporting from the Press Trust of India.
The Rath Yatra is considered one of the world’s oldest and largest religious processions. The centuries-old festival involves idols of Hindu deities being removed from the Jagannath Temple and transported through the streets in elaborately decorated chariots. Eyewitness videos from the event documented injured attendees being transported to medical facilities, with shoes, bags, and other personal items scattered across the area following the incident.
Odisha police indicated through a social media statement that rescue personnel administered first aid and oxygen assistance to 33 individuals before they were transported to regional hospitals. The same festival experienced a similar incident in the previous year, during which three people died and more than a dozen others were hospitalized.
Crowd-related incidents during major religious gatherings have been documented repeatedly in India. During the Maha Kumbh festival earlier in January, at least 30 people were killed when tens of thousands of Hindu devotees rushed to bathe in a sacred river during the world’s largest religious gathering. A particularly severe incident occurred in 2013 at a Hindu temple festival in Madhya Pradesh’s central region, where at least 115 people were crushed to death or drowned in a river after panic spread regarding structural concerns about a bridge.
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