One killed, 12 injured in stampede at Kanpur temple

One person was killed and 12 others were injured when a stampede broke out at the Hanuman Temple in Panki on the outskirts of the city on Tuesday.

Devotees in large numbers had gathered at the temple on the occasion of Budhwa Mangal festival, when the incident took place. The doors of the 500-year-old temple were to open at 3 am, but the devotees had lined up since Monday night.

Deputy Inspector General, Kanpur, Amitabh Yash told reporters that serpentine lines were seen outside the temple since Monday night, following which additional policemen were posted near the site.

Due to the heat and fatigue, some devotees fainted and a stampede soon broke out, Yash said.

Some eyewitnesses claimed that the police used force to control the crowd which led to the stampede.

The DIG said the police used mild force to control the crowd.

The injured were rushed to various hospitals in the city, where one of the devotees, identified as 38-year-old Purushottam Prajapati, died, hospital sources said.

This is the second stampede in a religious place in as many days. Nine people were killed when a stampede broke out in an ashram in Deogarh in Jharkhand on Monday.

Yash said many devotees continued fainting due to the heat and fatigue, as they had been standing in the line for at least eight hours.