Stampede in India, at least 107 people died

The stampede occurred on July 2 at a sermon by a cleric in Hathras, Uttar Pradesh state, about 140 km southeast of New Delhi.

Indian authorities are investigating the cause of the incident. Local police said it may have been caused by devotees who were suffocating due to the hot and humid weather, causing many to flee the area and causing the stampede.

“There was no way out, people fell on each other and there was a stampede,” said one injured person. “I tried to leave the place, but the motorbikes parked outside blocked the way out. Many people fainted, many died.”

Hindustan Times report 107 people died in the incident.

India records several fatal accidents during major religious festivals at places of worship.

In 2016, at least 112 people were killed in an explosion during a fireworks display marking the Hindu New Year. The blast destroyed several structures and sparked a fire at a temple complex in Kerala state where thousands had gathered.

Three years earlier, a stampede on a bridge near a temple in Madhya Pradesh killed 115 people after rumours spread that the structure was about to collapse. The incident occurred when about 400,000 people were in the area.

Some 224 pilgrims were killed and more than 400 injured in a 2008 stampede at the hilltop temple in the western Indian city of Jodhpur.