Outside Hathras hospital, bodies of stampede victims lay on the floor, loud wails pierce the air

PTI, Jul 2, 2024, 8:30 PM IST

Credit: PTI

Hathras (UP): Bodies lay scattered at a medical centre in Uttar Pradesh’s Hathras district on Tuesday as people milled around them, wiping away tears and consoling one another.

The heartbreaking scenes unfolded outside the district’s Sikandara Rao Trauma Centre, where victims, dead or unconscious, of the stampede that occurred at a ‘satsang’ in Phulrai village, 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. A video clip showed a man and a woman lying lifeless in a different vehicle.

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.

As the hours went by, the official estimate of the fatalities jumped and the crowds outside the trauma centre and the mortuary swelled.

According to a senior district official, 50 to 60 people, mostly women, are believed killed in the stampede and several more injured.

“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 are no proper treatment facilities,” an agitated youth said outside the hospital.

Eyewitness Shakuntala Devi told PTI Videos that the stampede took place while people were leaving the venue at the end of the ‘satsang’. “Outside, there was a road built on a height over a drain. People fell atop each other,” she said.

The stampede apparently occurred due to overcrowding, the Sikandra Rao police station SHO said.

According to officials, the government has formed a team comprising the Agra additional director general of police and the divisional commissioner of Aligarh to probe the incident.

Speaking to media persons, District Magistrate Ashish Kumar said it was a private function for which the permission was granted by the sub-divisional magistrate. The local administration provided security outside the venue while the internal arrangement was to be looked after by the organisers, he added.

Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath expressed condolences to the families of those killed in the stampede and instructed officials to reach the accident site and carry out relief measures. He announced a compensation of Rs 2 lakh ex gratia for the families of the dead and Rs 50,000 each for the injured.

The Uttar Pradesh government said an FIR will be registered against the organisers of the programme.

Adityanath also directed the district administration to arrange for proper treatment of those injured and immediately take them to hospitals. He wished them a speedy recovery.