At least six devotees died and dozens were injured in a stampede at Lord Venkateswara Swamy temple at Tirumala Hills on Wednesday night.
The incident took place as hundreds of them jostled for tickets for Vaikunta Dwara Darshanam near the ancient temple.
Devotees had congregated from across India for a 10-day festival at Lord Venkateswara Swamy temple in Tirupati town in Andhra Pradesh state.
Authorities of one of India’s richest temples have apologized after at least six pilgrims were killed in a stampede in the southern temple town of Tirupati.
The devotees were waiting in queues to collect tokens from over 90 counters to offer prayers to Lord Venkateshwara Swamy on Wednesday when the incident took place, local police said.
The tokens for an upcoming 10-day temple festival were to be handed out from 5 am local time on Thursday, but several thousand people gathered the night before at the counters so as not to miss out, the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD), which oversees the temple operations, said.
Authorities claimed the crowd became unruly and when a gate was opened to assist a woman feeling unwell, the pilgrims surged forward, leading to a stampede.
At least 40 people sustained injuries as authorities reportedly took over 15 minutes to control the crowd.
“We have made arrangements to avoid any traffic problems at Tirumala in Tirupati and around 3,000 policemen have been deployed, besides 1,550 TTD personnel, for security arrangements,” TTD chair BR Naidu said.
