- Most of the dead are women and children, the report said.
- The number of people present was three times the permitted capacity.
- It is located in a village in Hathras district of Uttar Pradesh.
The death toll from a stampede at a Hindu religious congregation in northern India has risen to 121, of whom 108 are women and seven children.
According to a police report, the number of people present was three times the permitted capacity. Reuters reported.
The stampede occurred on Tuesday in a village in Hathras district of Uttar Pradesh state, just 200 kilometers southeast of New Delhi.
The government had reportedly granted permission for 80,000 people to gather, however, around 250,000 people attended the event.
The incident occurred when the religious preacher, also known as 'Bhole Baba', was leaving in his car. Thousands of devotees ran behind the car shouting his name, causing those seated to fall on them. Some people also fell into an adjacent field filled with mud and sludge, where they were trampled.
According to local media, police are searching for the preacher.
Witnesses to the incident reported that people fell on top of each other as they rolled down a slope into a flooded ditch.
Fatal incidents are common at places of worship during India's major religious festivals, the biggest of which prompt millions of devotees to make pilgrimages to holy sites.
Sheela Maurya, a police constable on duty, said: “Everyone, the entire crowd, including women and children, left the scene at once. There was not enough space and everyone fell on top of each other.”
