Hathras in Uttar Pradesh, which made headlines a few years ago for the horrific rape and murder of a Dalit woman, has been in the news again. This time for a stampede at a religious programme that has cost 116 lives. The tragedy is still unfolding and many of the devotees are desperately looking for lost family and friends.
Suresh, a survivor of the stampede, told reporters, “I came here with my family from Badaun. My brother’s wife is missing. We got to know that several people are missing. I made announcements in the mic but it did not help”.
Among those missing is a 15-year-old named Chaya, whose family came to participate in the satsang from Agra. “I have been looking all over for her. My daughter cannot speak. She can only cry,” said her anguished mother.
“There were six to seven people who came, my daughter is missing… No one told us where she was, they said she was here and there but I couldn’t find her. The police said they don’t know anything,” she added.
The police, in fact, have their hands full. Visuals from the local Community Health Centre showed bodies still being brought in buses and tempos.
The satsang was organised in the honour of a local guru, Bhole Baba aka Narayan Saakar Hari. After it ended, people were not allowed to leave until his car left, causing a huge build-up of people in a small area.
“Many people were on the road, who didn’t move when the satsang was over. A crowd had gathered and people were pushing each other. A wire broke and people were injured,” one of the eyewitnesses told reporters.
The high number of attendees is also a key factor. “While applying for permission, the organisers had said they were expecting around 80,000 people. But the number of attendees was much more,” said the Chief Secretary of Uttar Pradesh.
In the stampede that followed, 116 people — 108 of them women and seven children – died. Many others are injured and doctors are struggling to help them. Around 35 bodies are yet to be identified — two of them are of children.
Yet another survivor said the stampede took place “as the road was uneven and people fell on each other”.
