HARIDWAR: At least six people were crushed to death at a popular Hindu temple in northern India`s Uttarakhand state on Sunday, officials said, after a massive crowd surge.
The stampede occurred on the stairway leading to the Mansa Devi temple in Haridwar, on the banks of the Ganges river, and left many injured.
`Six dead and more than 10 injured are admitted to the hospital,` senior city police official Parmendra Dobhal said.
Uttarkhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami said relief and rescue operations were underway.
`I am constantly in touch with the local administration regarding this matter and continu-ous monitoring of the situation is being done,` he said in a statement.
Deadly stampedes and crowd crushes are a common occurrence at Indian religious festivals.
In June, a sudden crowd surge at a Hindu festival in the coastal state of Odisha triggered a stampede that killed at least three people and injured several others.
The previous month six people were crushed to death in the western state of Goa after thousands gathered for a popular fire-walking ritual.
And in January, at least 30 people were killed in an early morning crush at the Kumbh Mela, a Hindu mega-festival in the northern city of Prayagraj.
