Two die in Maharashtra temple stampede

Ahmednagar (Maharashtra), Oct 10 (IANS) Two people were killed and several others were injured in a stampede at a temple in Rashin village in Ahmednagar district of Maharashtra, police said Friday.

The tragedy occurred at around 11.30 p.m. Thursday in the sanctum sanctorum of the Jagadamba temple, about 350 km from state capital Mumbai.

Since it was the festival of Dussehra, hundreds of devotees who were standing in queue tried to push their way inside the sanctum sanctorum in desperation to catch a glimpse of the goddess before its closure at the stroke of midnight, Karjat police station officer R.J. Sonawane told IANS.

The dead, 40-year-old Dilip Haribhau Kale and 52-year-old Gulab Dinkar Kadam, belonged to Sonalwadi and Baralgaon-Dagdi villages of the Karjat sub-district.

Dussehra marks the last day of a pilgrimage to the temple that begins on the first day of the nine-day Navratri festival. While thousands of devotees come to the village all through Navratri, the attendance peaks on the concluding day, Sonawane said.

This is the first time such a tragedy has occurred at the temple, he added.