Andhra Pradesh
\nAt least six people have died after being crushed at a Hindu religious gathering in India, with several more injured, officials said Thursday.
\nA huge crowd had gathered to collect entrance tokens to visit the Sri Venkateswara Swamy Temple in the southern state of Andhra Pradesh when the stampede broke out on Wednesday.
\n\u201cThe unfortunate incident […] has claimed the lives of six devotees. I pray to god to give peace to the departed souls,\u201d Prem Kumar Jain, the spokesman of the state\u2019s ruling Telugu Desam Party, told reporters.
\nPrime Minister Narendra Modi offered condolences to the families of the deceased.
\n\u201cMy thoughts are with those who have lost their near and dear ones,\u201d his office said on social media platform X.
\nDeadly accidents are common at places of worship in India during major religious festivals due to poor crowd management and safety lapses.
\nIn July last year, 121 people were killed in northern Uttar Pradesh state during a Hindu religious gathering.
\nAnother 112 people died in 2016 after a huge explosion caused by a banned fireworks display marking the Hindu New Year at a temple in southern Kerala state.
\nWednesday\u2019s incident comes days before the start of the Kumbh Mela, a six-week Hindu festival of prayer and sacred bathing expected to be the largest religious gathering in history.
\nUp to 400 million pilgrims are expected to attend, according to organisers.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Andhra Pradesh At least six people have died after being crushed at a Hindu religious gathering in India, with several more injured, officials said Thursday. A huge crowd had gathered to collect entrance tokens to visit the Sri Venkateswara Swamy Temple in the southern state of Andhra Pradesh when the stampede broke out on Wednesday. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-454538","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n