Stampede Kills at Least 256 at Temple in India

Pilgrims angered by the accidental deaths of several people inside a Hindu temple set fire to shops along a crowded walkway outside Tuesday, triggering a stampede that killed more than 250 people, police said.

An estimated 300,000 people had gathered for a festival in and around the hilltop Mandra Devi temple in western India near the small town of Wai, about 100 miles southeast of Bombay.

Police chief Chandrakant Kumbhar said the incident began when the temple floor became slippery from a ceremony that involved breaking coconuts in front of a deity. Some pilgrims slipped and were trampled to death by others propelled forward by the mass of people trying to get to the spot.

“A couple of devotees slipped and fell on the floor. A mob from behind walked over them,” Kumbhar said. “When their relatives, who were still climbing the stairs, heard the news, they became angry and set fire to some shops.”

The fires were set along a packed, narrow walkway lined with tea stalls and shops leading up a hill to the temple. They set off what witnesses said was a stampede of screaming crowds.

The death toll was at least 256 people, mostly women and children. More than 200 were hurt.