At least 116 dead in stampede at Hindu religious event in India

At least 116 people, many of them women and children, were killed Tuesday in a stampede at a Hindu religious gathering in northern India, authorities said, in one of the worst tragedies in the country in years.

The stampede took place in a village in Utter Pradesh’s Hathras district, about 200 kilometres southeast of the national capital New Delhi, where thousands of people had gathered in sweltering late afternoon temperatures, authorities said.

The stampede broke out after a group of worshippers began rushing to the stage after the event to touch the preacher, who came down from the podium, said Yogi Adityanath, chief minister of Uttar Pradesh, India’s most populous state.