‘70,000 people, an electric shock’: What led to deadly stampede at Goa temple?

A stampede took place during the early hours of Saturday at the Lairai Devi Zatra temple in North Goa's Shirgao, killing six people and injuring several others as thousands jostled for space in narrow lanes of the shrine devoted to a goddess.

Dinanath Gaonkar, the President of the Lairai Devi temple and an advocate, said the chaos may have started when one devotee touched a light bulb with his cane stick, got an electric shock, and fell onto others nearby, according to a news agency ANI report.

Gaonkar said around 50,000 to 70,000 devotees were at the temple at the time of the incident.

What led to the stampede?

“Around 50,000 to 70,000 Dhonds (followers of Lairai Devi) were here at the Zatra... People in the crowd were pushing each other to get ahead in the crowd... Many of us villagers tried to stop them and resolve the issue. But these people were just not ready to listen to us. During this, some people went to a shop here, during which one person's beth (cane stick) touched a bulb, and he suffered an electric shock. He fell on other people, and that's how the stampede started...,” ANI quoted Dinanath Gaonkar as saying.

North Goa Superintendent of Police (SP) Akshat Kaushal said that they are still looking into what exactly caused the incident. He mentioned that over 50,000 people were inside the temple when the stampede happened and that nearly 400 police officers were on duty at the time.

"We are still trying to determine the exact cause of the incident. However, we have been told that the stampede might have happened due to some people spreading rumours... The biggest challenge for us was to peacefully vacate more than 50,000 people who were inside the temple for the (Larai) Zatra. Around 400 police personnel were deployed here for the Zatra. This is the first time something like this has happened on this occasion," SP Kaushal said.

Goa chief minister Pramod Sawant also visited the temple site later that day to assess the situation. The stampede happened around 4-5 am on Saturday. The Goa government ordered a magisterial inquiry into the incident.

Further, north Goa collector and superintendent of police were transferred following the stampede, PTI news agency reported, citing officials.

(With inputs from ANI)